37/-S2- 


Southern  Branch 
of  the 

fniversity  of  California 


—■w: 


Los  Angeles 


Form  L   I 


JSdocatiofi 
Libra rv 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

WJGl     »» 

JAN  5      /932 

im  x.'x^^ 

JUN 

JUL  1  4  1924 

JA*  *S193S 

JAN   : 

JAN  2  0  1925 

APR  1  j  1925 

5  *ty 
*AR*2  1958 

APR  2  8  1925 

JUN  1  0  1925 

AUG  5      19tfc 

OCT  1  G  182* 

i\/    1  9!   ' 

-• 

NOV  3  0  1925 

■ 

- 

JUL  80  iq2 

C  5     s 

> 

St 

5m-8,'21 

Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/conflictingprincOOmcmuiala 


CONFLICTING  PRINCIPLES 
IN  TEACHING 

AND 

HOW  TO  ADJUST  THEM 

BY 

CHARLES  A.  McMURRY 

Director  of  Training  Department,  Northern  Illinois  State 

Normal  School,  and  Superintendent  of  Schools 

De  Kalb,  Illinois 

2.  6    3   f  £ 


BOSTON    NEW  YORK    CHICAGO 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
@Cfce  Ritocrti&e  ifivesti  Cambri&0e 


COPYRIGHT,    I914,   BY    CHARLES   A.   MCMURRY 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


tCiic  &tucrsi&e  J)rt  ss 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S   .    A 


Education 
'  Library 

LB 

loZ  5 


/V\*-^ 


TO 

Superintendent  William  H.  Hatch 

Of  Oak  Park,  Illinois 

My  long-time  friend  and  patron  in  educational  work 

I  dedicate  this  book 

As  an  expression  of  lasting  friendship 


An  inevitable  dualism  bisects  nature,  so  that  each  thing 
is  a  half  and  suggests  another  thing  to  make  it  whole  ;  as 
spirit,  matter,  etc.  .  .  .  The  same  dualism  underlies  the 
nature  and  condition  of  man. 

Emerson. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 

Opposing  Principles  or  Dualisms  in  School 
Discipline  and  Instruction 

I.  The  Realm  of  Controversy 3 

II.   School  Management  —  Its  Natural  Dual- 
isms      12 

III.  Instruction  —  Logical   Continuity  and 

Cross  Lines  in  Thinking 48 

IV.  Dictation  and  Independent  Thought     .    .    75 

V.  How  to  get  Self- Activity  and  Initiative  .  102 
I.  Help  and  self-help. 
II.  Interest  and  effort. 

VI.  Standards  of  Excellence 138 

I.  Over-thoroughness  and  superficiality. 
II.  Perfection  and  crudeness  in  work. 

VII.  Two  Important  Contrasts 162 

I.  The  concrete  and  the  abstract. 
II.  Form  and  content. 

VIII.    Class  Instruction  and  Individual  Instruc- 
tion      19G 

PART  n 

Opposing  Elements  in  General  Educational 
Problems  and  Theories 

IX.  Antithetical  Elements  in  School  Studies   .  213 
I.  The  idealistic  and  the  useful. 
II.  The  serious  and  the  humorous. 


vi  CONTENTS 

X.  Contrasts  in  Child  and  in  Society    .    .    .  223 
I.  The  child,  physical  and  mental. 
II.  Heredity  and  environment. 
III.  The  individual  and  the  social  whole. 

XI.  The  Gulf  between  Theory  and  Practice  .  237 

XII.  The  Controversy  as  to  Scholarship  and  a 

Science  of  Education  or  Pedagogy     .    .  252 

XIII.  Three  Pairs  of  Dual  Principles  ln  Educa- 

tion      261 

I.  Conservatives  and  progressives. 

II.  Secular  versus  moral  education. 

III.  General  training  and  vocation. 

XIV.  Conclusions 278 

Index 283 


CONFLICTING  PRINCIPLES  IN 
TEACHING 

PART  I 

OPPOSING  PRINCIPLES  OR  DUALISMS  IN 
SCHOOL   DISCIPLINE   AND  INSTRUCTION 


CONFLICTING  PRINCIPLES 
IN  TEACHING 


CHAPTER  I 

*2-<2>  3  7  ** 
THE  REALATOF  CONTROVERSY 

Jean  Paul  Richter,  speaking  in  his  Levana  of  the 
contradictions  in  family  and  home  education,  says :  — 

If  the  secret  variances  of  a  large  class  of  ordinary  fathers 
were  brought  to  light  and  laid  down  as  a  plan  of  studies,  and 
an  outline  of  moral  education,  they  would  run  somewhat 
after  this  fashion:  In  the  first  hour  pure  morality  must  be 
read  to  the  child,  either  by  myself  or  the  tutor;  in  the  second, 
mixed  morality,  or  that  which  may  be  applied  to  one's  ad- 
vantage; in  the  third,  "Do  you  not  see  that  your  father  does 
so  and  so?  "  in  the  fourth,  "  You  are  little  and  this  is  only  fit 
for  grown  people  " ;  in  the  fifth,  "  The  chief  matter  is  that  you 
should  succeed  in  the  world  and  become  something  in  the 
State"  ;  in  the  sixth,  "Not  the  temporary  but  the  eternal 
determines  the  worth  of  man";  in  the  seventh,  "Therefore 
rather  suffer  injustice  and  be  kind";  in  the  eighth,  "But  de- 
fend yourself  bravely  if  any  one  attack  you";  in  the  ninth, 
"Do  not  make  such  a  noise,  dear  child";  in  the  tenth,  "A 
boy  must  not  sit  so  quiet";  in  the  eleventh,  "You  must  obey 
your  parents  better  " ;  in  the  twelfth,  "And  educate  yourself." 

So  by  the  hourly  change  of  his  principles,  the  father  con- 
ceals their  untenableness  and  one-sidedness.  As  for  his  wife, 
she  is  neither  like  him  nor  like  that  harlequin  who  came  on  to 
the  stage  with  a  bundle  of  papers  under  each  arm,  and  an- 
swered to  the  inquiry  what  he  had  under  his  right  arm, 
"orders,"  and  to  what  he  had  under  his  left,  "counter- 
orders."  But  the  mother  might  better  be  compared  to  a  giant 
Briareus  who  had  a  hundred  arms  and  a  bundle  of  papers 
under  each. 


4     SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE   AND  INSTRUCTION 

Our  practical  education  bristles  with  contradiction. 
Even  a  superficial  survey  of  prevailing  practice  and 
principles  in  education  shows  them  often  running  at 
cross-purposes.  Learning  to  read  in  the  first  grade 
illustrates  this.  Some  trained  primary  teachers  de- 
mand a  systematic  formal  drill  in  the  phonetic  elements 
combined  with  the  forms  of  letters.  Beginners  are 
trained  into  the  habit  of  quickly  interpreting  new  word- 
forms  by  combining  the  elementary  sounds.  Other 
experienced  and  zealous  primary  teachers  practice 
a  sentence-and-thought  method  which  makes  the  mas- 
tery of  phonic  elements  and  forms  entirely  secondary 
and  incidental.  A  strong  effort  is  made  by  such  persons 
to  avoid  systematic  formal  drills.  Primary  readers  and 
charts  are  worked  out  in  accordance  with  each  of  these 
strongly  contrasted  methods  of  learning  to  read.  In 
arithmetic,  also,  the  spiral  plan  of  arranging  topics 
provides  for  a  brief,  incomplete  treatment  of  a  topic 
such  as  the  table  of  long  measure,  and  a  frequent  return 
to  this  topic  at  stated  intervals  after  other  intervening 
topics  have  had  a  similar  short  presentation.  Such  is 
the  plan  of  the  Werner  arithmetics.  Other  arithmetics 
provide  for  a  complete  and  adequate  treatment  of  a 
topic  at  one  time,  in  one  series  of  continuous  lessons, 
till  it  is  mastered,  that  is,  till  the  process  is  fully  under- 
stood and  variously  applied.  The  two  methods  are  in 
pronounced  opposition. 

The  source  method  of  handling  history  topics  in  some 
cases  dispenses  with  a  textbook  and  seeks  to  construct 
history  out  of  interesting  original  documents.    The 


THE  REALM  OF  CONTROVERSY  5 

more  usual  plan  is  a  close  adherence  to  an  assigned  les- 
son in  a  book,  with  no  use  of  outside  references.  These 
are  staring  contrasts  in  method.  Some  teachers  and 
county  superintendents  require  children  to  learn  and 
locate  all  the  counties  in  a  State  like  Illinois  or  Penn- 
sylvania. Other  teachers  and  courses  dispense  entirely 
with  this  kind  of  local  geographical  information  and 
deal  with  what  they  call  more  important  facts  and 
topics.  Such  contradictory  practices  and  theories  pre- 
vail all  through  our  educational  system  and  leave 
young  teachers  in  a  quandary. 

More  reflective  study  of  these  difficulties  reveals 
deeper-lying  oppositions  which  are  so  fundamental  as 
to  constitute  the  knotty  problems  for  thinkers  and 
experts  in  education.  Even  the  basis  of  moral  educa- 
tion is  in  dispute,  namely,  whether  it  is  secured  through 
moral  instruction  and  precept  or  through  the  direct 
guidance  of  behavior.  People  differ  greatly  as  to  the 
main  purpose  of  the  common  school:  with  some  it  is 
mental  discipline;  with  others  useful  and  practical 
information;  with  still  others  it  is  breadth  of  social 
interest,  and  adjustment  to  life  conditions,  —  citizen- 
ship in  a  broad  and  liberal  sense.  Vocational  training 
and  guidance  are  now  coming  into  prominence,  and 
relative  to  it  there  is  wide  diversity  of  plans  and  of 
controlling  ideas.  The  old  doctrine  of  formal  mental 
discipline  is  still  cherished  by  conservative  teachers, 
while  the  opposing  doctrine  of  interest  and  pleasure  in 
the  normal  activities  of  study  is  strongly  supported  by 
many.  The  relative  place  and  importance  of  inductive 


6     SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE   AND  INSTRUCTION 

and  deductive  processes  of  thought,  as  applied  to  class- 
room work,  are  still  in  dispute.  That  old  question  — 
how  to  develop  strong  will-power  —  is  still  a  matter  of 
wide  diversity  of  opinion.  The  elective  system  has  its 
friends  and  enemies.  In  the  opinion  of  enthusiastic 
advocates,  the  manual  arts  are  to  exert  a  reorganizing 
influence  upon  our  elementary  school  course.  Others 
believe  that  the  manual  arts  must  hold  quite  a  subor- 
dinate place  among  the  valuable  studies  of  the  com- 
mon school.  In  our  educational  meetings  all  these  and 
many  other  topics  have  been  the  source  of  continued 
disagreement  and  controversy. 

Again,  writers  on  education,  like  John  Locke,  Rous- 
seau, Montaigne,  Spencer,  Herbart,  Huxley,  Harris, 
Rein,  William  James,  and  Froebel,  differ  even  to  con- 
tradiction in  their  statement  of  fundamental  doctrines. 
Most  psychologists  place  emphasis  upon  the  formation 
of  right  habits.  Rousseau  says  that  his  Emile  shall 
form  no  habits  except  the  habit  of  not  forming  habits. 
Herbart  requires,  as  a  fundamental  basis  for  the  right 
kind  of  work,  that  school  studies  shall  be  essentially 
interesting,  and  affirms  that  studies  which  fail  to 
awaken  any  permanent  interest  have  but  small  value. 
William  James,  while  admitting  the  value  of  interest, 
says,  "It  is  certain  that  most  school  work,  till  it  has 
become  habitual  and  automatic,  is  repulsive."  Such 
contrary  views  are  not  uncommon  among  all  classes 
of  writers  upon  educational  topics. 

This  diversity  or  contrariety  of  opinions  among 
theorists  and  practical  educators  leads  many  people 


THE  REALM  OF   CONTROVERSY  7 

easily  to  the  conclusion  that  there  are  few  settled 
standards  in  education,  no  real  pedagogical  science, 
and  that  our  well-meant  efforts  to  train  teachers  are 
not  founded  on  broad  basal  principles,  but  are  of  the 
nature  of  devices  and  accommodations  to  practical 
needs.  Whatever  fundamental  principles  we  may  have 
are  at  least  obscured  and  covered  up  by  these  contro- 
versies. The  opponents  and  critics  of  a  science  of  educa- 
tion discover  in  such  disagreements  and  conflicts  of 
opinion  a  direct  support  for  their  hostile  criticisms. 
Now,  if  we  can  clear  the  field  of  all  unnecessary  con- 
troversies, we  may  be  able  to  rescue  our  main  educa- 
tional doctrines  from  discredit  and  thus  secure  a  more 
generally  acknowledged  basis  for  educational  science. 
Such  wide  variety  of  opinions  and  lack  of  agreement 
on  fundamental  issues  are  not  only  discouraging,  but, 
to  some  extent,  demoralizing,  to  the  rank  and  file  of 
teachers.  Even  principals  and  superintendents  are 
disconcerted  by  these  opposing  claims  which  throw  a 
hesitating  uncertainty  into  a  teacher's  actions.  In 
recent  times  this  confusion  of  tongues  has  been  in- 
creased by  new  elements  of  discord.  The  present  unus- 
ually conflicting  and  chaotic  state  of  our  course  of 
study  and  of  our  school  doctrine  and  practice  is  due  to 
rapid  and  radical  changes,  to  numerous  importations 
of  new  materials  and  new  ideas,  which  have  been  rap- 
idly accumulated,  but  are  not  yet  organized  into  a 
consistent  plan.  Our  aims  and  our  theories  are  now 
undergoing  the  process  of  reconstruction  and  reforma- 
tion: practice,  in  trying  to  keep  up  with  these  swift 


8     SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND   INSTRUCTION 

changes,  takes  on  a  variety  of  inconsistent  forms. 
There  has  been  a  recasting  of  old  methods  and  an  evo- 
lution of  the  new. 

At  lucid  intervals  in  this  long-drawn-out  and  wide- 
spread conflict,  we  may  well  seek  a  few  moments  for 
reflection  and  try  to  take  stock  of  our  situation  and  of 
our  achievements.  It  is  not  difficult  to  discover  that 
disagreement,  conflict,  and  more  or  less  confusion  pre- 
vail in  courses  of  study,  in  classroom  practice,  and  in 
administrative  policy.  Much  of  this  discord  is  inev- 
itable as  a  sort  of  clearing-house  for  adjusting  claims 
and  for  sifting  out  essentials. 

From  all  this  educational  discussion  and  controversy 
we  may  expect,  as  time  ripens,  permanent  and  valuable 
results  —  sounder  theories  and  better  practice.  Much 
of  what  appears  radical  contradiction  in  ideas  and 
usages  may  prove  in  the  end  to  be  good  doctrine  car- 
ried to  unwarranted  extremes.  Debate  naturally  leads 
to  extreme  statements.  But  debate  or  partisan  con- 
troversy is  a  slow  and  exasperating  method  of  reaching 
important  results.  It  is  quite  possible  that  a  more 
deliberate,  many-sided,  judicial  attitude  of  mind 
toward  our  large  educational  problems  would  at  once 
obliterate  half  our  antagonisms  and  thus  give  us  a 
much  better  chance  to  get  at  the  main  issues.  Even 
in  these  larger  and  more  fundamental  problems  delib- 
erate and  carefully  balanced  judgments  may  harmo- 
nize differences  and  bring  about  agreement  and  unity  of 
effort.  From  a  broader,  more  inclusive  point  of  view, 
these  apparently  conflicting  principles,  when  properly 


THE   REALM  OF  CONTROVERSY  9 

interpreted  and  adjusted  to  each  other,  are  found  to  be 
the  complementary  segments  of  a  larger  whole. 

In  education,  as  in  other  fields  of  human  experience, 
fundamental  issues  are  often  double-faced,  like  the 
god  Janus,  looking  in  opposite  directions.  Our  Federal 
Government,  for  example,  with  its  balance  of  powers,  is 
such  a  paradox,  one  out  of  many.  It  involves  two  poles 
of  thought.  The  knotty  problem  for  the  thinker  is  the 
one  that  springs  from  two  seemingly  opposing  prin- 
ciples which  must  somehow  be  brought  into  unison. 
It  is  this  double-sided,  paradoxical  quality  which 
makes  the  difficulty  in  the  problem,  without  which  it 
would  not  be  a  problem.  The  solution  of  such  a  prob- 
lem calls  for  a  larger  liberality  of  mind  which  can  dis- 
cover a  mutuality  in  seeming  opposites.  When  two 
such  warring  principles  maintain  themselves  strongly 
in  educational  discussion  for  a  long  period  of  time,  the 
suspicion  is  justified  that  there  may  be  some  more  com- 
prehensive view  which  will  dissolve  the  antagonism 
and  thus  bring  into  light  a  larger  segment  of  truth. 
From  this  point  of  view  seeming  antagonisms  between 
educational  doctrines  are  by  no  means  objectionable 
or  discouraging.  They  rather  point  out  the  centers  of 
progressive  effort,  the  very  spots  where  energy  can  be 
expended  to  the  best  advantage  in  the  search  for  a 
larger  truth,  a  truth  which  will  combine  the  opposites. 

As  a  result  of  past  educational  theorizing  and  prac- 
tice, we  have  a  collection  of  important  principles  which 
are  more  or  less  scattered,  isolated,  and  contradictory. 
A  higher  organization  and  unification  of  these  princi- 


10    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND   INSTRUCTION 

pies  is  demanded  which  will  quench  useless  antagonisms 
and  concentrate  effort  at  the  points  of  efficiency. 

Our  purpose  in  this  book  is  to  point  out  the  lines  of 
reconciliation  by  which  many  of  the  now  opposing 
forces  can  be  brought  into  cooperation,  the  controver- 
sies set  aside,  and,  perhaps,  the  knotty  problems  solved. 

A  few  points  of  controversy 

1.  Should  children  be  required  to  memorize  important 
proverbs  and  statements  of  truth  which  they  do  not 
clearly  understand? 

2.  Is  a  marking  system  based  on  percentages  a  good 
arrangement  for  schools?       o^, 

3.  Is  it  advisable  to  have  the  more  capable  children 
in  a  class  by  themselves,  and  the  slower  ones  of 
about  equal  ability  by  themselves?      -P- 

4.  Should  prizes  be  given  for  excellence  in  school 
work? 

5.  Should  instruction  in  intermediate  grades  be  chiefly 
oral,  or  should  textbooks  be  mainly  used? 

6.  Should  rules  in  arithmetic  be  thoroughly  memor- 
ized? Also  definitions  in  grammar? 

7.  In  manual  training  should  all  the  children  in  a  class 
make  the  same  thing,  of  the  same  size,  materials, 
dimensions,  joints,  etc.  ?  Or,  should  each  child  make 
what  he  likes  according  to  his  own  design? 

8.  Should  children's  mistakes  in  English  be  corrected 
while  they  are  reciting? 

9.  Which  is  the  better  mode  of  instruction,  private 
tutoring  or  teaching  children  in  classes? 


THE   REALM   OF   CONTROVERSY  11 

10.  May  children  be  held  to  a  strict  use  of  a  phonic 
method  in  primary  reading? 

11.  Can  we  train  the  memory? 

12.  Is  the  use  of  a  spelling-book  advisable? 

13.  In  language  study  is  it  better  to  learn  a  modern 
language,  or  an  ancient  language,  first? 

14.  Should  games  and  construction  exercises  be  used 
as  a  part  of  the  regular  school  time? 

15.  Should  the  "Three  R's"  receive  the  chief  empha- 
sis in  school,  or  are  other  studies  of  equal  or  more 
importance? 

16.  Is  the  grammar  school  the  place  to  begin  vocational 
training? 

17.  Is  it  well  to  introduce  self-government  into  schools? 

18.  Is  it  advisable  to  allow  corporal  punishment  in 
schools? 


CHAPTER  II 

SCHOOL    MANAGEMENT  — ITS    NATURAL    DUALISMS 

The  management  of  children  in  a  school  is  a  double 
problem  of  individual  and  of  social  control,  which  in- 
volves necessary  contradictions.  One  must  bring  into 
cooperation  several  groups  of  forces  which  only  too 
easily  are  thrown  into  opposition.  Where  such  con- 
flicts naturally  arise,  it  is  prudent  to  inquire  into  the 
sources  of  contradiction  and  the  means  of  hindrance. 
One  method  of  analyzing  this  complex  problem  is  to 
pair  off  the  contradictory  elements  and  to  search  out 
in  each  case  a  broader  principle  of  reconciliation  and 
harmony. 

I.  The  first  pair  of  opposites  may  be  stated  in  the 
form  of  a  question,  —  Can  children  be  trained,  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  into  two  such  opposite  virtues  as 
prompt  obedience  to  authority  and  free,  self -controlled, 
independent  action?  On  the  one  hand,  the  school  is 
under  obligation  to  train  children  into  the  spirit  and 
practice  of  obedience.  The  conduct  of  children  must  be 
regulated  by  law;  for  without  it  the  school  falls  to 
pieces.  Society  itself,  without  this  cohesive  principle 
of  obedience  to  authority,  could  not  hold  together. 
The  school,  by  generating  respect  for  authority  and 
by  basing  upon  this  the  habit  of  obedience  to  law,  ful- 
fills one  of  its  chief  obligations  to  society.  In  organ- 
izing and  administering  the  affairs  of  the  school  the 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  13 

principle  of  obedience  to  authority  is,  therefore,  fun- 
damental. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  children  in  school,  as  else- 
where, require  freedom.  They  are  not  slaves  and  are 
not  to  be  trained  into  a  slavish  and  cowering  spirit. 
They  have  a  birthright  of  freedom  and  independence, 
not  to  be  curtailed,  but  encouraged  and  enlarged.  In 
this  respect  the  purpose  of  the  school  is  not  to  suppress 
children,  nor  to  subjugate  them  to  arbitrary  will,  but 
rather  to  develop  them  into  the  spirit  and  habit  of  free- 
dom. It  must  become,  of  course,  a  regulated  freedom, 
based  upon  respect  for  law.  And  herein  is  found  the 
principle  of  adjustment  by  which  these  seeming  oppo- 
sites  are  combined. 

In  a  special  class  made  up  of  truant  and  troublesome 
boys  from  12  to  15  years  of  age,  drawn  from  several 
schools,  we  have  been  making  the  experiment  of  com- 
bining shop-work  and  school-work  in  nearly  equal  pro- 
portions, with  the  definite  purpose  of  developing  in 
them  better  habits  of  control  in  work  and  study.  We 
are  trying  always  to  give  them  more  freedom  of  action 
and  at  the  same  time  to  develop  in  them  a  cheerful 
obedience  to  school  regulations.  The  chief  inducement 
we  can  offer  them  is  shop-work  in  printing,  book-bind- 
ing, and  wood-construction  and  other  activities,  which 
they  like,  which  give  them  greater  freedom  of  choice 
and  action,  and  such  a  practical  treatment  of  school 
studies  as  appeals  to  their  needs  and  interests  (voca- 
tional, etc.).  Their  habits  of  truancy  and  their  lack  of 
respect  for  orderliness  and  law  are  against  our  plans. 


14    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

But  we  are  using  every  inducement  that  legitimate 
opportunity  for  free  action  can  give  to  draw  them 
under  the  sway  of  law  and  order.  The  abnormal  home 
conditions  and  lawless  habits  already  formed  increase 
the  difficulty  of  combining  freedom  and  law.  But  the 
necessity  for  this  combination  is  also  more  clear  and 
imperative.  The  George  Junior  Republic  in  New  York 
is  a  still  more  extreme  illustration  of  a  serious  effort  to 
bring  lawless  city  boys  under  control  by  allowing  them 
freedom  for  self-government  in  managing  their  affairs. 

Gradually,  through  the  enlightening  and  directing 
influences  of  discipline  and  instruction,  boys  and  girls 
are  to  develop  toward  larger  self-control  and  freedom. 

By  obedience  to  a  well-administered,  humane  author- 
ity, they  grow  into  intelligent  regard  for  the  regula- 
tions of  school  and  of  society.  In  the  case  of  adoles- 
cents a  stormy  period  often  intervenes  before  these 
opposing  principles  get  settled  and  adjusted  to  each 
other.  At  the  close  of  their  school  years,  if  properly 
handled  by  parents  and  teachers,  children  should  have 
acquired  a  respectful  conformity  to  the  regulations  of 
home,  of  school,  and  of  society.  They  should  possess 
also  an  acquired  skill  in  directing  their  own  conduct 
independently,  within  the  proper  limits  of  law.  This 
steady  development  into  enlarged  freedom  of  action 
under  proper  control  takes  place  in  every  well-con- 
ducted family  and  in  every  well-managed  school. 
Such  a  combination  of  obedience  and  freedom  will 
serve  the  best  purposes  both  of  the  individual  and  of 
society. 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  15 

How  is  the  teacher  to  bring  about  this  result?  The 
theoretical  statement  of  the  difficulty  and  of  the  result 
to  be  achieved  is  easy.  But  the  practical  adjustment  of 
the  threatened  discord  is  often  a  fine  point  of  skill  in 
management,  requiring  watchfulness,  judgment,  and 
patience.  Obedience  to  authority  and  freedom  to  do 
as  one  pleases  are  often  regarded  by  young  people  as 
strictly  antagonistic.  As  children  enter  school  in  the 
first  grade,  the  transition  from  the  freedom  of  play  to 
the  orderly  procedure  of  the  school  brings  to  light  at 
once  this  conflict  of  forces.  By  its  principle  of  order 
the  school  stands  out  in  marked  contrast  to  the  sponta- 
neous and  unregulated  activities  that  precede.  Experi- 
enced primary  teachers  report  to  me  that  they  do  not 
at  once  lay  down  fixed  rules  of  action  for  the  beginners. 
The  previous  free,  unconstrained  movements  of  the 
children  and  their  lack  of  voluntary  control  make  it 
prudent  for  the  teacher  to  have  few  if  any  rules,  to 
issue  direct  commands  sparingly.  Under  the  guidance 
of  a  kind  and  steady  hand  the  little  ones  begin  to  ob- 
serve and  even  to  feel  the  need  of  social  order  and  of 
prompt  conformity.  But  at  best  the  change  is  a  grad- 
ual one  and  requires  tactful  concession  to  a  child's 
nature  and  stage  of  growth.  In  some  children  the  lack 
of  muscular  control  interferes  at  first  with  orderly 
movements  about  the  room  and  in  games.  In  other 
cases  they  have  acquired  at  home  whimsical  or  diso- 
bedient habits  that  must  be  supplanted  by  better  ways 
and  by  a  better  spirit.  This  beginning  of  social  control 
and  this  curbing  of  spontaneity  without  losing  the 


16    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

sense  of  freedom  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  artistic 
skill  in  teaching. 

In  intermediate  grades,  again,  when  the  spirit  of 
boyish  independence  breaks  out,  parents  and  teachers 
make  an  effort  to  keep  the  noise  and  bluster  of  the 
youngsters  within  limits.  They  maintain  the  spirit  of 
order  and  control  against  carelessness  and  freakishness, 
and  also  against  willfulness  and  bad  temper.  But  the 
freedom  of  the  realm,  as  Whittier  describes  it  in  The 
Barefoot  Boy,  is  a  native  birthright  of  the  boy  to  be 
fully  respected  and  provided  for.  A  hearty  and  joyous 
temperament  is  a  great  aid  in  working  out  this  prob- 
lem of  control  with  boys.  Teachers  themselves  should 
be  boyish  in  their  interests  and  enthusiasm. 

With  the  onset  of  adolescence  in  the  grammar  grades 
and  in  the  high  school  a  danger  point  is  reached  where 
authority  and  freedom  seem,  for  a  time,  to  part  com- 
pany. The  spirit  of  independence  blazes  up  with  phe- 
nomenal energy,  while  teachers  and  parents,  taken, 
perhaps,  by  surprise,  feel  impelled  to  a  powerful  reac- 
tion from  the  side  of  authority.  After  all,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  some  extent,  as  Arnold  Winkelried  said,  to 
"make  way  for  liberty."  Wise  parents  and  teachers 
find  it  prudent  to  allow  the  youth  at  this  period  consid- 
erable freedom.  The  outcome  depends  partly  upon  the 
strength  of  affections  and  habits  already  formed,  and 
partly  upon  the  sympathy  and  wisdom  of  parents  and 
teachers  in  maintaining  a  just  balance  between  author- 
ity and  freedom.  It  is  a  storm-and-stress  period  full  of 
cares  and  anxieties  for  those  who  feel  responsible  for  its 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  17 

results.  The  spirit  of  freedom,  and  the  spirit  of  obe- 
dience are  not  natural  and  easy  yokefellows.  It  is 
a  gradual  process  of  adjustment  by  which  they  are 
brought  into  cooperation.  Through  experience  and 
training,  and  the  formation  of  habit,  they  learn  to  pull 
together. 

It  is  this  ever-present  possibility  of  conflict  and  mal- 
adjustment which  makes  all  government,  whether  in 
the  State,  the  home,  or  the  school,  a  ticklish  experi- 
ment. It  is  a  genuine  problem  which  every  teacher 
must  face  the  moment  he  steps  into  a  schoolroom.  Nor 
can  the  child  himself  avoid  this  struggle  which  should 
result  in  self-mastery.  When  John,  in  a  fit  of  passion  or 
of  sulkiness,  refuses  openly  to  obey  a  reasonable  order, 
the  teacher  must  step  in,  sometimes  with  a  strong  hand, 
and  enforce  obedience.  Such  drastic  action,  however, 
should  be  exceptional,  and  used  only  as  a  final  resort 
when  other  precautionary  measures  fail.  The  care  and 
forethought  of  the  teacher,  in  using  milder  measures 
of  suggestion  and  of  kindly  advice,  should  in  most 
cases  prevent  such  a  collision. 

In  their  school  and  playtime  activities  some  chil- 
dren require  encouragement  to  greater  freedom  of 
action;  others  need  constraint.  In  a  fourth-grade 
geography  class,  Katherine  is  reserved  and  taciturn, 
and  never  offers  to  recite  or  to  ask  a  question.  Mary, 
on  the  contrary,  has  a  premature  answer  always  ready, 
speaks  out  and  interrupts  others:  she  likes  to  talk.  The 
problem  is,  how  to  encourage  Katherine  to  more  free- 
dom of  expression  and  to  teach  Mary  self-control  and 


18    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

reserve.  Each  child  is  in  need  of  a  sympathetic  friend 
to  help  her  out  of  her  unfortunate  habit.  Such  a  habit 
based  upon  temperament  is  only  slowly  overcome.  It 
requires  kindness,  firmness,  and  patience  in  the  in- 
structor. On  the  playground,  Charles  holds  aloof  as  a 
mere  passive  onlooker.  Peter  rushes  in  eager  to  man- 
age and  control  the  game.  The  former  should  somehow 
catch  the  social  spirit  and  learn  to  cooperate  freely  with 
his  fellows,  while  Peter  should  feel  a  touch  of  modesty 
and  have  more  regard  for  the  person  and  rights  of 
others.  The  playground  and  the  outdoor  excursion  are 
now  recognized  as  the  best  places  for  discovering  and 
cultivating  these  personal  qualities,  for  checking  some 
and  encouraging  others. 

The  child  is  impulsive  and  unregulated.  He  is  one- 
sided and  extreme  in  his  judgments.  He  is  not  a  phil- 
osopher to  discover  the  larger  unity  that  combines 
opposing  principles.  The  burden  of  compromise  and 
adjustment  lies  upon  the  teacher  with  his  larger  experi- 
ence and  more  balanced  judgment.  He  will  survey 
wisely  this  complex  situation  with  its  natural  conflicts. 
He  will  take  the  initiative  and,  by  direct  and  indirect 
means,  guide  the  child's  actions  through  the  ways  of 
obedience  into  freedom.  We  know  that  it  can  be  done 
and  is  done  every  day  by  skillful  teachers.  Yet  it  is  not 
easy  to  formulate  the  process  nor  to  furnish  illustra- 
tions that  will  exactly  fit  special  cases  that  may  arise. 

The  adjustment  between  opposing  ideas  is  close  and 
delicate.  The  teacher's  own  temperament  and  dispo- 
sition will  combine  and  embody  these  opposing  mental 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  19 

attitudes.  The  teacher  who  has  learned  to  subordinate 
his  own  pleasure  and  freedom  of  action  to  just  require- 
ments has  already  gained  valuable  experience  in  com- 
bining these  discrepant  elements  of  behavior.  He  has 
already  developed  into  a  larger  freedom  through  self- 
control  and  obedience  to  law.  He  has  often  experienced 
the  conflict  of  egoistic  feelings  with  unselfish  impulses 
and  motives.  For  this  reason  he  can  better  appreciate 
the  struggle  that  is  going  on  in  the  child's  mind,  and 
guide  his  impulsive  movements  toward  rational  self- 
control.  Children  are  in  the  period  of  growth  and 
change,  of  storm  and  stress,  when  the  more  complex 
and  balanced  habits  of  conduct  have  not  yet  been 
formed.  Education,  in  this  fundamental  moral  sense, 
is  the  process  by  which  these  conflicting  elements  in 
the  child's  unformed  character  are  gradually  adjusted 
and  welded  together  into  habits  under  the  guidance  of 
a  wiser,  more  experienced  person.  The  more  complex 
habits  are  thus  formed  out  of  which  the  larger  frame- 
work of  character  grows. 

Other  important  agencies  in  society  are  at  work 
upon  this  same  problem.  In  the  family,  the  parents 
must  daily  practice  with  their  children  this  fine  art  of 
reconciliation  between  authority  and  freedom.  The 
failure  of  many  homes  to  reach  this  standard  in  train- 
ing their  children  is  the  cause  of  endless  misery  and 
misfortune.  If  political  governments  could  put  into 
effective  practice  this  art  of  training  citizens  to  free- 
dom under  law,  perhaps  conflicts,  violence,  civil  brawls, 
and  even  war  could  be  largely  escaped.   In  countries 


20    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

like  Mexico,  where  revolutions  are  the  order  of  the 
day,  government  vibrates  between  the  extremes  of 
abitrary  power  and  wild,  reckless  freedom.  They  run 
to  lawlessness,  or  they  submit  for  a  time  to  a  powerful 
dictator.  They  have  not  yet  formed  the  complex  habit 
of  exercising  freedom  under  law.  Children  are  some- 
what like  the  half-civilized  races  which  have  not  yet 
developed  to  the  point  of  combining  freedom  with  law. 
In  a  good  many  families  this  problem  has  already  been 
partly  solved,  and  children  coming  from  such  homes 
submit  without  conflict  to  all  sensible  school  regula- 
tions. Many  children,  less  fortunate  in  their  home 
surroundings,  must  learn  this  important  lesson  in  the 
school. 

II.  Another  phase  of  this  same  problem  is  found  in  a 
second  form  of  contradiction.  Decisiveness,  or  firm- 
ness, in  dealing  with  children  stands  in  contrast  with 
gentleness.  The  teacher  is  called  upon  to  be  consist- 
ently firm  and  decisive  in  thought  and  action.  He 
should  not  shift  nor  shuffle.  He  should  find  the  right 
ground  and  stand  upon  it,  come  what  may.  Nothing 
short  of  this  will  command  respect  and  secure  author- 
ity. Teachers  often  neglect  or  forget  their  own  rules, 
thus  training  children  to  do  the  same.  It  is  better 
to  make  very  few  rules,  perhaps  only  one  important 
rule  at  a  time;  then  follow  this  up  steadily  and  per- 
sistently till  the  children  are  convinced  that  the  mas- 
ter's action  is  steady  and  sure.  Every  such  important 
ruling  should  be  made  only  after  deliberation  and  fore- 
thought; as  far  as  possible  with  sound  judgment  as  to 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  21 

ultimate  consequences.  In  this  way  most  serious  mis- 
takes are  avoided.  Firmness  and  consistency  should 
follow  in  the  track  of  this  decision  and  form  the  basis 
of  a  teacher's  good  repute. 

But  decisiveness,  if  it  stands  alone,  is  often  too 
abrupt  and  arbitrary.  It  gives  needless  offense  by 
seeming  to  be  hasty  and  inconsiderate.  Important 
matters  require  to  be  handled  with  some  deliberation, 
with  proper  show  of  courtesy  to  other  opinions.  At 
this  point  another  quite  opposite  quality  is  imperatively 
needed,  namely,  gentleness.  A  gentle  manner,  a  kindly 
spirit,  a  genuine  good  will  toward  children  are  quite  as 
important  as  firmness.  Gentleness  is,  indeed,  a  trait  of 
human  nature  of  some  potency.  It  reconciles  us  to  an 
unpleasant  but  necessary  decision.  It  pours  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters  and  they  subside. 

Unfortunately  in  some  cases,  gentleness  glides  over 
too  easily  into  complaisance  and  indulgence.  It  needs 
something  behind  it  to  give  it  strength  and  so  we  come 
back  to  firmness  or  decision,  which  is  the  complement 
of  gentleness.  The  teacher  should  combine  the  two, 
or  at  least  carry  them  along  together  as  closely  as  pos- 
sible without  running  to  an  extreme  in  either  way. 
Robert  is  very  anxious  to  join  the  boys  in  a  game  of 
ball.  But  he  has  been  told  for  good  reasons  that  he 
should  first  complete  his  lesson.  A  storm  of  feeling 
arises  which  ought  to  be  handled  with  combined  firm- 
ness and  gentleness.  Even  where  severe  penalties  must 
be  applied,  gentleness  should  offset  their  rigor.  Here 
we  have  a  contradiction  in  terms  which  explains  the 


22    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

seriousness  of  the  difficulty  and  the  necessity  for  care- 
fulness in  adjusting  and  combining  opposites. 

Some  teachers  are  by  nature  decisive;  others  are 
naturally  gentle.  Because  of  a  predominant  temper 
toward  one  side  or  the  other,  most  persons  must  put 
themselves  under  discipline  to  acquire  the  art  of  bal- 
ancing virtues,  of  combining  two  such  opposites  in 
suitable  proportion  and  harmony.  No  teacher  can 
afford  to  be  decisive  who  is  not  at  the  same  time  gentle. 
Somehow  we  should  find  a  way  to  smooth  out  this  con- 
flict, to  obliterate  this  contradiction  by  a  higher  form 
of  harmony.  Again,  there  is  a  tendency  to  swing  from 
one  extreme  to  the  other.  Decisiveness  first  runs  over 
into  abruptness,  harshness,  and  stubbornness;  then, 
when  the  reaction  comes,  gentleness  overflows  into 
excess  kindness  and  indulgence.  This  tendency  to  ex- 
tremes gives  a  dangerous  unstability  to  one's  manage- 
ment of  children. 

Under  normal  conditions,  the  proper  reaction  of  a 
child's  behavior  to  the  influence  of  teachers  depends 
upon  how  well  these  seemingly  contradictory  elements 
are  combined  and  put  in  action.  Stubbornness  in  the 
teacher  begets  stubbornness  in  the  pupil,  or  else  a 
forced  submission  and  a  lasting  resentment.  On  the 
other  hand,  too  much  of  gentleness  or  concession  be- 
gets waywardness  and  self-indulgence.  A  just  and 
well-balanced  treatment  which  combines  firmness  and 
gentleness  commands  respect  and  is  certain  to  win  out 
with  the  majority  of  children.  Pestalozzi  discovered 
and  expressly  stated  that  in  his  school  at  Stanz  he 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  23 

could  occasionally  punish  children  severely  without 
losing  their  affection,  because  his  constant  and  pains- 
taking labor  in  their  behalf  was  such  a  convincing  proof 
of  his  good  will  toward  them. 

The  usual  treatment  of  children  in  many  homes  is 
so  vacillating  and  inconsistent  that  the  school  has  a 
notable  opportunity  to  improve  upon  it  and  to  win  the 
lasting  gratitude  of  children  by  a  stronger  and  kindlier 
treatment.  Good  government  in  this  sense  requires 
not  so  much  main  strength  and  autocratic  will  in 
teachers  as  a  well-balanced  mind  and  the  steady  spirit 
of  fair  dealing.  Any  one  who  will  take  time  to  be  fair- 
minded,  deliberate,  kindly,  and  self-controlled,  and 
will  bear  himself  firmly  and  consistently  toward  chil- 
dren, should  soon  learn  the  art  of  governing  a  school. 
The  main  purpose  of  government  is  to  secure  justice 
and  equal  opportunity  for  all.  The  principle  of  mere 
authority  has  been  often  overstrained  in  school  and 
State.  The  ruler  should  possess  a  judicially  balanced 
mind  which  is  free  from  haste,  passion,  prejudice,  and 
willfulness.  Only  thus  can  he  keep  in  smooth  adjust- 
ment and  combination  such  opposite  traits  of  charac- 
ter as  decision  and  gentleness. 

III.  Reserve  and  spontaneity  in  our  intercourse 
with  children  suggest  another  double-sidedness  in  our 
attitude  toward  them.  Something  of  proper  reserve 
and  dignity  toward  young  people  is  appropriate.  A 
natural,  quiet  superiority  and  not  too  close  familiar- 
ity befit  the  teacher.  This  kind  of  dignity  puts  chil- 
dren into  a  respectful  attitude.  It  is  simple  and  natu- 


24    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

ral,  not  priggish  or  affected.  It  is  not  offish  and  un- 
friendly. 

On  the  other  side,  spontaneity  and  even  impulsive- 
ness are  pleasing  qualities.  A  frank  and  hearty  person, 
who  enjoys  young  people  and  throws  himself  freely 
into  their  life  and  interests,  easily  becomes  their  friend 
and  guide.  Lifelong  memories  of  heartiness  and  good 
will  result  from  such  leadership.  This  impulsiveness 
may  sometimes  show  a  drift  toward  effusiveness  and 
sentiment,  but  in  general  it  is  a  wholesome  element  of 
character.  Dignity  and  reserve  on  one  side  —  freedom 
and  spontaneity  of  behavior  on  the  other:  —  what  is 
wanted  is  a  teacher  who  can  combine  these  opposite 
qualities  into  harmony  and  reciprocal  reaction. 

It  is  of  importance  to  consider  how  far  people  who 
are  too  impulsive,  on  the  one  side,  or  too  reserved  and 
unsocial,  on  the  other,  may  consciously  improve  their 
disposition  by  thoughtful  self -discipline.  They  might 
thus  strengthen  the  weaker  part  and  modify  the 
stronger  impulse  so  as  to  bring  these  contrasted  quali- 
ties of  human  nature  into  union.  Normal  schools  and 
other  instrumentalities  for  training  teachers  should 
devote  themselves  in  part  to  this  social  training.  A 
young  woman  of  social  spirit  teaching  in  a  village  was 
reproved  by  her  superintendent  because  she  partici- 
pated freely  in  the  games  of  the  young  people  in  an 
evening  entertainment.  "Why,"  he  said,  "your  con- 
duct was  such  that  no  one  would  have  known  that 
you  were  a  teacher."  Being  somewhat  troubled  by  this 
criticism,  she  mentioned  the  matter  to  the  president 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  25 

of  the  school  board,  who  was  a  man  of  discretion.  His 
reply  was,  "Your  superintendent  could  not  have  paid 
you  a  higher  compliment."  Conduct  is  a  fine  art  and 
cannot  be  controlled  by  fixed  rules.  Individuality 
must  have  scope  to  assert  itself  and  no  two  persons  can 
be  held  to  the  same  conduct.  But  the  ideal  of  attain- 
ment for  all  teachers  is  a  happy  combination  of  these 
contrasted  but  equally  important  qualities. 

IV.  Criticism  and  encouragement  of  children  form 
another  pair  of  opposites  which,  in  proper  combina- 
tion, work  for  efficiency.  How  to  find  the  combina- 
tion is  the  serious  problem.  A  good  teacher  is  critical 
of  children's  faults  and  errors.  He  is  perpetually  on 
the  alert  to  turn  children  from  faulty  ways  and  habits 
into  right  ones,  from  error  into  truth,  from  inattention 
and  carelessness  to  concentration  and  effort.  His  busi- 
ness is  to  get  after  the  delinquents  and  cause  them  to 
keep  step.  The  prevailing  laziness,  thoughtlessness, 
and  inefficiency  of  children  at  their  tasks  make  this 
phase  of  his  duty  clearly  imperative.  But  alas !  proper 
criticism  easily  shifts  over  into  sharpness  and  scolding, 
and,  what  is  worse,  banter,  sarcasm,  and  innuendo. 
The  chronic  scold,  the  carping  critic,  appear  in  the 
teacher's  desk,  and  we  have  a  contribution  of  worm- 
wood to  school  discipline  and  instruction.  In  time  this 
spirit  becomes  galling,  and,  in  extreme  cases,  intoler- 
able. 

On  the  other  hand,  wise  teachers  encourage  children 
in  spite  of  their  mistakes.  They  are  charitable  toward 
errors.  They  overlook  many  minor  and  even  serious 


26    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTKUCTION 

faults.  They  are  fishing  for  still  larger  game,  in  spite  of 
dogfish  and  other  "varmints"  that  get  into  the  net. 
Many  children  are  bashful  and  timid  and  require  en- 
couragement. Even  bad  boys  should  find  out  that  they 
have  some  good  qualities  and  that  the  teacher  has 
faith  in  them. 

Who  is  a  match  for  these  things?  To  be  critical  and 
constantly  on  the  alert  for  error  and  carelessness  and 
sham;  to  be  at  the  same  time  encouraging,  stimulat- 
ing, and  charitable?  Praising  children  too  much  tends 
to  flattery  and  untruth;  while  criticism  easily  degener- 
ates into  nagging.  Somehow  the  teacher  must  square 
up  the  account  and  get  a  just  equipoise  between  fair 
criticism  and  needed  encouragement.  He  must  show 
himself  a  fault-finder  and  a  friend  in  one  breath.  One 
teacher  of  my  acquaintance  was  popularly  known  as 
"the  scold,"  and  some  less  complimentary  epithets 
were  applied,  because  he  developed  and  exercised  his 
scolding  temper.  He  was,  in  important  ways,  a  re- 
markable teacher,  and  commanded  respect.  One  good 
result  that  may  have  come  from  his  propensity  to  scold 
was  a  strong  feeling  of  its  disagreeableness,  which  may 
have  served  his  pupils  as  a  warning  against  such  a 
fault.  A  teacher  who  has  good  health  and  a  hopeful, 
jubilant  spirit  in  his  work,  so  that  he  can  be  critical 
and  severe  at  times  and  yet  arouse  his  pupils  to  their 
best  cheerful  effort,  has  a  priceless  qualification.  It  is 
one  of  those  higher  qualifications  which  examinations 
are  impotent  to  test. 

In  our  business  we  should  cultivate  those  qualities  of 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  27 

mind  and  temper  which  are  likable  and  equally  those 
which  command  deference  and  respect.  Keen,  cutting 
and  unfair  criticism  by  a  strong  teacher  is  one  of  the 
mean  traits  in  human  nature.  A  timid,  sensitive  stu- 
dent, in  his  weakness,  has  no  resource  against  such  a 
strong,  dominant  teacher.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  bully, 
who  enjoys  tyrannizing  over  the  weak.  Such  a  temper 
in  the  teacher  deserves  the  keenest  excoriation,  the 
most  unqualified  reprobation.  Let  the  teacher  avoid 
extremes.  Let  the  sharp  sting  of  necessary  criticism  be 
closely  followed  by  a  hearty  encouragement  to  renewed 
effort.  Every  true  teacher  is  a  mental  surgeon  who  can 
use  the  knife  with  safety  and  has  withal  a  kind  heart. 

V.  In  the  effort  to  combine  these  strong  and  more  or 
less  conflicting  forces  and  to  bring  them  to  bear  upon 
children  through  his  own  person,  the  teacher  often 
meets  with  a  natural  but  unexpected  conflict.  On  the 
one  side  is  the  strong,  aggressive  character  of  the 
teacher,  on  the  other,  the  natural  reaction  of  the  chil- 
dren. Because  of  the  wide  diversity  of  character  and 
disposition  in  children  and  in  teachers,  this  reaction 
may  be  responsive  or  antagonistic.  When  such  antag- 
onisms arise  out  of  the  contact  of  a  strong  teacher  with 
his  pupils,  very  serious  and  unfortunate  consequences 
may  follow.  How  are  these  to  be  met?  It  is  certainly 
necessary  to  bring  to  bear  upon  boys  and  girls  the 
whole  energy  and  personal  force  of  this  well-equipped 
master,  whom  we  may  now  venture  to  call  "the  strong 
teacher."  His  interesting  and  wholesome  qualities, 
reinforced  by  a  strong  will-power,  make  a  deep  impres- 


28    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

sion  upon  children.  They  appreciate  the  influence  of 
such  a  person,  and  often  submit  freely  to  his  guidance. 
As  time  goes  on,  they  appropriate  the  master's  senti- 
ments and  modes  of  thinking  and  acting.  This  is  what 
has  been  long  prized  as  the  molding  influence  of  a 
strong,  energetic  personality  upon  the  immature  and 
receptive  character  of  young  people.  This  ideal  of  a 
vigorous  character  which  carries  influence  and  pro- 
duces efficiency  has  long  been  a  favorite  one  with  those 
who  look  for  what  may  be  called  "heroic  qualities"  in 
the  teacher.  Such  a  man  could  lead  high-spirited  youth 
anywhere,  upon  the  battle-field,  or  upon  a  forlorn 
hope.  Such  a  one  is  strong  willed  and  clear  headed. 
He  has  high  standards  and  definite  notions  of  the 
means  to  be  used  for  realizing  them.  He  feels  the  full 
responsibility  of  his  work  and  has  a  generous  enthusi- 
asm for  its  aims.  Thomas  Arnold  was  such  a  leader. 
Horace  Mann  was  another.  Mary  Lyon, among  wo- 
men, Garfield  as  a  schoolmaster,  Stonewalkjackson, 
and  many  others  were  of  this  heroic  mold.  The  world 
admires  this  sort  of  person  in  any  calling.  In  the  edu- 
cational field  such  characters  are  preeminently  desir- 
able. 

And  yet  this  so-called  strong  schoolmaster  does  not 
fill  the  full  measure  of  the  all-round  teacher.  He  may 
be  accounted  but  half  of  a  much  larger  whole  which 
comprises  the  teacher's  complete  equipment  and  make- 
up. And  the  other  half  is  more  or  less  in  distinct  con- 
trast if  not  opposition  to  this. 

Just  at  this  point,  in  the  contact  between  teacher 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  29 

and  child,  arises  a  dualism  of  opposing  forces  more 
radical  and  comprehensive  than  any  we  have  yet  men- 
tioned. Before  admitting  the  right  of  the  educator  to 
shape  the  character  of  young  people  according  to  his 
own  notion,  or  according  to  the  pattern  of  his  own 
individuality,  we  must  ask  —  Does  the  teacher  fully 
appreciate  these  young  people  in  the  wide,  rich  variety 
of  their  disposition,  character,  and  ability?  Does  he 
understand  their  nature  well  enough  to  tell  just  how  it 
ought  to  be  shaped?  Has  he  at  his  disposal  the  variety 
and  quality  of  influences  suitable  for  this  shaping  pro- 
cess? Has  he  taken  the  measure  of  each  child's  strength 
and  weakness?  —  his  special  bent  and  peculiarity? 
Does  he  really  understand  the  nature  of  the  clay  he  is 
trying  to  mold?  These  questions  are  entirely  fair.  They 
cover  at  least  one  half  of  the  whole  problem. 

At  this  point  the  teacher  must  face  about  and  sub- 
ject himself  to  a  new  and  very  different  set  of  tests. 
What  he  needs  is  more  penetration  and  sympathy, 
ability  to  see  and  feel  things  from  the  boy's  or  girl's 
standpoint,  —  yes,  from  that  of  twenty  or  thirty  differ- 
ent boys  and  girls  of  the  most  varied  and  nondescript 
personality.  Many-sidedness  in  his  ability  to  interpret 
and  sympathize  with  varieties  and  peculiarities  and 
unexpected  qualities  in  children  is  first  needed.  Not 
how  much  can  he  impress  himself  upon  others,  but, 
first  of  all,  how  well  does  he  appreciate  and  understand 
others;  how  clearly  does  he  comprehend  the  conditions 
of  human  nature  in  children  in  harmony  with  which  he 
must  operate? 


30    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

From  this  point  of  view,  the  genuine  teacher  is,  first 
of  all,  a  receiver  of  influences,  not  a  giver;  extremely 
sensitive  and  susceptible  of  impressions  from  others, 
and  shrewd  in  his  power  of  correct  interpretation.  He 
is  the  last  person  in  the  world  to  imagine  that  he  is  a 
law  unto  himself,  that  his  own  nature  is  adequate  to  all 
emergencies.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  prob- 
lem lies  in  the  child  quite  as  much  as  in  the  teacher.  If 
he  is  alert  to  take  in  the  new  situation,  he  will  soon  dis- 
cover, in  any  school,  certain  pupils  having  a  higher 
order  of  natural  ability  in  certain  directions  than  the 
teacher  himself.  This  suggests  the  need  for  enlarging 
his  own  personality  far  enough  to  take  in  and  to  appre- 
ciate the  rich  treasure  of  life  with  which  he  is  entrusted. 
At  any  rate,  he  should  make  a  liberal  allowance  for  his 
own  deficiencies  and  recognize  a  fine  assortment  of  per- 
haps unsuspected  superior  abilities  in  the  children. 
Without  this  sympathetic  preparation  for  his  task,  no 
matter  how  great  his  strength  and  power,  he  may  prove 
a  mere  uncouth  blunderer;  he  may  ride  rough-shod 
over  tender  sensibilities,  and  do  more  damage  than  he 
will  ever  know  how  to  mend. 

Here  is  a  striking  polarity  in  the  two  fundamentals 
of  good  schoolmastering.  Two  opposite  and  not  very 
congenial  virtues  must  be  brought  into  terms  of  close 
companionship  in  one  and  the  same  teacher.  Outgoing, 
dominant  energy  of  will  —  many-sided,  sympathetic 
receptivity.  One  must  be  like  tempered  steel  for 
strength,  and  like  wax  to  receive  impressions.  One  can- 
not easily  overstate  the  difficulty  of  making  the  right 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  31 

combination  of  these  opposed  qualities :  it  is  setting  up 
a  high  standard  for  human  nature  to  attain.  But  in 
the  management  and  training  of  children  both  these 
virtues  and  their  close  cooperation  are  necessary.  It 
will  test  the  best  master's  wisdom  in  full  measure  to 
find  the  right  solution  to  this  problem. 

One  practical  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  we  easily 
misjudge  children's  conduct,  attributing  wrong  mo- 
tives to  their  action.  One  little  fellow  of  about  seven 
years  had  a  difficulty  with  his  teacher,  an  excellent  and 
kindly  woman.  When  she  essayed  to  deal  with  him,  he 
escaped  and  ran  under  the  schoolhouse.  The  more 
sharply  she  summoned  him  to  come  out,  the  farther 
back  he  crawled.  She  failed  in  her  purpose  and  re- 
ported to  his  father  that  the  boy  was  extremely  stub- 
born. The  father  naturally  inquired  more  sympatheti- 
cally into  the  situation  and  discovered  that  the  little 
fellow  was  excessively  frightened.  Teachers  are  by  no 
means  infallible  judges  of  the  motives  and  actions  of 
children. 

A  somewhat  timid  young  woman  of  studious  habit 
and  quick,  active  intelligence  entered  a  normal  school. 
On  account  of  some  misunderstanding,  one  of  her  strong 
teachers  gave  her  a  sharp  rebuke  and  so  intimidated 
and  discouraged  her  that  she  found  it  difficult  to  recite 
in  his  classes.  Irritation  at  his  critical,  brusque  treat- 
ment increased  till  she  retired  from  the  school.  The 
teacher,  himself,  perhaps  never  knew  what  distress  and 
misfortune  his  unsympathetic  treatment  had  brought 
to  a  capable  and  earnest  young  woman.  Such  tragedies 


32    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

can  be  avoided  by  strong,  vigorous  teachers  only  by 
sympathetic  insight  and  carefulness  in  dealing  with 
young  people.  Rigorous  treatment  should  always  be 
paired  with  unmistakable  kindliness.  When  teacher 
and  pupil  in  such  a  conflict  have  become  somewhat 
estranged  and  embittered,  it  is  very  difficult  for  either 
party  to  judge  the  actions  of  the  other  without  preju- 
dice. An  example  of  such  a  controversy  between  a 
strong  teacher  and  an  offended  pupil  came  up  in  my 
own  experience  to-day.  After  two  or  three  hours  of 
careful  meditation  on  my  part,  it  was  still  doubtful  if  a 
reconciliation  could  be  effected. 

It  is  a  weakness  of  human  nature  as  exhibited  in  par- 
ents and  teachers  to  neglect,  somewhat,  this  sympa- 
thetic attitude  toward  children;  to  take  it  for  granted, 
in  cases  of  disagreement,  that  the  children  are  at  fault 
and  the  parent  or  teacher  in  the  right.  The  instinctive 
reactions  of  grown-up  people  to  the  conduct  of  children 
are  frequently  bad.  There  are  several  reasons  why 
grown-ups  should  think  before  they  act  or  speak  in 
dealing  with  children.  For  one  thing,  they  do  not 
understand  nor  sympathize  with  children's  feelings 
and  ways.  They  have  outgrown  and  forgotten  these 
things.  Their  minds  are  preoccupied  with  adult  inter- 
ests. Even  parents  often  fail  to  get  any  true  perspec- 
tive of  a  child's  interests  and  needs,  and  teachers  are 
lacking  even  in  what  may  be  termed  natural  parental 
solicitude. 

The  almost  universal  tendency  to  apply  adult  stand- 
ards of  judgment  to  children's  conduct  and  not  to  take 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  33 

time  or  pains  to  get  into  touch  with  a  child's  needs 
and  peculiarities  is  responsible  for  much  unhappiness 
and  failure  in  school  and  home.  It  is  but  a  reasonable 
proposition  that  teachers  first  of  all  cultivate  this 
friendly  attitude,  that  they  make  a  business  of  sensible 
child-study.  A  full  half  of  one's  teaching  efficiency 
depends  upon  this  willingness  to  forget  self  and  to  be- 
come a  patient,  tender-hearted  learner  of  very  simple 
things  that  one  has  forgotten,  to  become  in  spirit  like  a 
child.  A  frequent  return  to  the  fife  and  work  of  Pesta- 
lozzi  would  teach  us  how  completely  his  success  de- 
pended upon  this  element  of  sympathy  with  children. 
Intellectual  and  moral  training  find  no  safe  foundation 
unless  this  intelligent  sympathy  for  children  has  been 
provided. 

Further  reflection  suggests  that  a  teacher's  so-called 
strong  point,  his  particular,  favorite,  monopolistic  vir- 
tue, if  unsupported  by  a  counter-balancing  virtue,  be- 
comes a  vice.  A  strong  teacher  of  mathematics,  who 
sets  up  one  severe  standard  for  all  children  and  re- 
morselessly squeezes  out  of  the  class  all  who  do  not 
reach  this  high  standard,  is  a  dangerous  tyrant  in  the 
schoolroom.  It  is  a  pity,  what  a  strong,  narrow-minded 
teacher  can  do  to  injure  and  warp  some  children,  to 
disregard  their  real  abilities  and  try  to  force  some  other 
line  of  strength.  A  strong  will,  which  is  narrow  and 
stubborn,  has  a  tendency  to  set  other  strong  wills  on 
edge  and  even  to  convert  them  into  violent  hostility. 
This  may  lead  on  to  a  mean  antagonism  and  a  perma- 
nent embitterment.  The  teacher  should  not  give  the 


34    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

first  offense,  nor  the  second,  in  such  a  line  of  action. 
With  his  larger  experience  and  more  liberal  knowledge, 
he  should  sympathetically  avoid  such  a  conflict,  rather 
than  foolishly  precipitate  it  by  his  bigotry.  The 
stronger  the  schoolmaster,  if  he  is  narrow  and  bigoted, 
the  worse  for  at  least  some  of  his  children.  Unless  the 
teacher  takes  himself  severely  in  hand  and  broadens 
out  his  sympathies,  he  is  apt  to  make  sorry  blunders  in 
the  effort  to  maintain  and  magnify  what  he  imagines 
to  be  his  special  virtues.  Unconsciously  the  narrow 
teacher  develops  a  sort  of  dogmatic  self-approval  and 
presumption  of  superiority  which  is  dangerously  irri- 
tating to  young  people. 

The  first  duty  of  the  teacher  is  to  expand  and  enlarge 
his  own  limited  personality  so  as  to  take  in  and  appre- 
ciate the  rich  variety  of  character  with  which  the  boys 
and  girls  surround  him.  It  is  his  one  chance  to  grow 
into  the  larger  and  richer  life  which  his  duties  demand. 
If  he  can  wake  up  to  the  situation  and  crawl  out  of  his 
narrower  self  into  a  broader  sympathy,  he  will  soon  dis- 
cover, in  any  school,  children  who  have  higher  forms  of 
ability.  This  is  his  best  chance  to  build  out  and  fortify 
the  weaker,  neglected  spots  in  his  own  character.  The 
teacher  is,  of  necessity,  limited  in  his  knowledge,  but  he 
should  be  sympathetically  open  to  all  phases  and  pecu- 
liarities of  human  nature.  He  is  under  obligation  to 
encourage  every  child  to  a  free  and  full  development  of 
the  best  points  in  his  own  character. 

The  schoolmaster  does  not  aim  at  profound  scholar- 
ship in  any  study.  For  this  he  teaches  too  many  sub- 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  35 

jects  in  too  many  grades,  and  is  occupied  with  too 
many  duties.  If  he  has  a  specialty,  it  is  not  in  one  nar- 
row study,  but  rather  in  the  variety  of  his  acquaint- 
ance with  human  nature  and  the  skill  he  acquires  in 
adjusting  himself  to  these  variations.  The  best  school- 
master for  a  village  is  the  young  man  who  has  the  wid- 
est range  of  proper  interests  and  of  influence  among 
the  young  people.  He  is  at  home  with  boys  who  like 
shop- work  and  mechanics;  he  appreciates  and  encour- 
ages girls  and  boys  who  have  musical  talents  and  pref- 
erence; he  is  awake  to  political  discussions  with  those 
interested  in  politics;  he  enjoys  literature  and  good 
novels  with  those  who  read  much;  with  a  boy  devoted 
to  a  shotgun  he  can  tramp  on  the  hunt;  he  is  enough  of 
an  athlete  to  be  a  hearty  companion  to  boys  on  the 
ballfield;  he  can  throw  himself  with  zeal  into  scientific 
excursions  and  experiment;  mathematical  conundrums 
are  his  delight  with  boys  who  have  a  mathematical 
turn;  history  and  biography  are  a  favorite  enthusiasm 
with  him;  he  can  get  fun  and  competition  out  of  even 
grammar  and  spelling;  he  takes  a  kindly  interest  in 
queer  and  peculiar  or  freakish  children,  and  makes 
friends  with  those  who  are  offish,  or  morose,  or  unpop- 
ular. His  business  requires  all  this  and  his  temper 
should  adjust  itself  to  his  business. 

A  certain  young  schoolmaster  in  Pennsylvania,  John 
Meese,  had  this  many-sided  and  active,  participating 
attitude  toward  the  young  people  in  his  village  and 
neighborhood.  So  long  as  he  remained  there  as  a 
teacher,  many  young  people  grew  up,  prepared  for 


36    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

college  and  higher  schools,  and  went  forward  into  use- 
ful lives  in  various  professions  and  business  callings. 
When  he  left  the  neighborhood,  the  supply  of  young 
people  who  prepared  for  college  and  higher  walks  of 
life  seemed  to  drop  off  and  finally  cease.  A  right- 
minded  teacher  in  a  neighborhood  is  a  discoverer.  He 
is  on  the  lookout  to  find  boys  and  girls  who  can  do 
something  and  who,  perhaps,  do  not  know  it.  They 
need  a  teacher  who  can  reveal  to  them  their  own  best 
qualities  and  possibilities,  and  who  can  encourage  and 
start  them  out  on  their  various  appropriate  lines  of 
effort.  Handling  children  in  large  classes,  with  less 
chance  to  observe  and  appreciate  individuals,  has  a 
tendency  to  blind  one  to  this  broader  and  richer  phase 
of  a  teacher's  duty. 

VI.  In  school  discipline  another  form  of  contradic- 
tion that  taxes  the  resources  of  the  teacher  is  the  natu- 
ral opposition  between  the  individual  and  the  social 
whole.  The  teacher's  management  must  include  the 
individual  children,  each  with  his  more  or  less  peculiar 
character  and  disposition,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
whole  class  or  school  as  a  unit.  Sometimes  the  indi- 
vidual pupil  is  so  disorderly  and  eccentric  that  it  is 
impossible  to  bring  him  into  proper  relation  to  the 
school  program.  In  such  case  either  the  boy  or  the 
school  must  be  sacrificed,  or  at  least  they  must  be 
separated.  Earl,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  was  bent  upon  dis- 
turbance. He  broke  through  the  rules  at  once,  and 
caused  confusion  and  interfered  with  other  children  by 
lawless  tricks.  There  was  but  one  thing  to  do,  to  put 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  37 

him  out  of  the  room  and  refuse  him  the  privileges  of 
the  school.  It  was  possible  in  this  case  to  isolate  him 
and  give  him  individual  treatment.  But  he  never  re- 
entered the  regular  class-work.  Every  system  of  schools 
ought  to  be  supplied  with  rooms  and  teachers  who  can 
deal  with  such  special  cases,  and  with  smaller  special 
groups.  It  is  unjust  to  impose  such  a  ruinous  burden 
upon  a  room-teacher  who  has  the  charge  of  thirty  or 
forty  children.  It  upsets  the  order  and  efficiency  of  the 
room,  worries  the  teacher  to  a  frazzle,  and  does  the 
boy  himself  no  good. 

Apart  from  such  extreme  cases  the  teacher  has  to 
deal  not  only  with  individual  children,  each  of  peculiar 
bent  and  quality,  but  also  with  certain  groupings  and 
organizations  of  school  spirit  in  classes  and  otherwise, 
each  of  which  may  have  a  distinct  social  character. 
Sociology  has  made  clear  to  us  that,  where  people  com- 
bine and  pool  their  minds  and  feelings,  there  appears  a 
new  and  special  form  of  human  spirit,  differing  in  qual- 
ity and  scope  from  individual  spirit.  More  recently 
our  educational  writers  have  emphasized  the  social 
side  of  training,  with  the  idea  that  the  child,  first  of  all, 
must  be  brought  into  conformity  to  social  standards  so 
as  to  act  in  harmony  with  this  powerful  social  spirit. 
Social  adjustment  has  been  set  up  as  the  chief  aim  of 
the  school.  The  older  definition  of  education  empha- 
sized, rather,  the  complete,  all-round  development  of 
the  individual.  Each  of  these  points  of  view,  when 
emphasized,  tends  toward  one-sidedness  and  antag- 
onism against  the  other.  But  each  view  requires  a  full 


38    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

recognition,  and  the  final  solution  lies  in  a  very  broad 
view  that  comprehends  both  in  a  larger  unity. 

The  schoolmaster  should  become  an  expert  in  de- 
tecting, interpreting,  and  organizing  social  school 
spirit.  Children  naturally  associate  themselves  into 
groups.  Only  too  often  it  becomes  a  group  antago- 
nism against  the  teacher.  It  may,  in  extreme  cases, 
develop  into  a  mob  spirit.  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  by 
sympathy  and  cooperation,  the  teacher  himself  may 
become  the  center  of  a  harmonized  social  spirit  which 
thoroughly  organizes  the  work  of  the  school.  When 
once  a  right  impulse  and  momentum  are  thus  given  to 
the  social  spirit  of  the  school,  it  brings  decided  advan- 
tage. It  carries  many  of  the  weaker  and  less  deter- 
mined spirits  along  a  good  line  of  development.  It  also 
gives  the  natural  social  leaders  among  boys  and  girls  a 
chance  to  assume  their  proper  place  and  to  exert  their 
right  influence.  The  educator  should  find  a  way  to 
combine  the  varieties  of  individual  spirit  with  social 
spirit  and  progress.  After  all,  individual  traits  furnish 
the  source  from  which  all  social  organization  develops. 
In  the  evolution  of  society  individual  peculiarity  and 
freedom  are  quite  as  important  as  the  social  type.  Per- 
sonal initiative,  freedom  of  judgment,  and  independ- 
ence of  action  are  the  essential  bases  for  a  large  part  of 
the  progress  of  society. 

The  teacher's  problem  is  to  find  a  way  of  dealing 
with  individuals  according  to  their  peculiar  traits  and 
dispositions  so  that  they  will  gradually  fit  into  the 
larger  social  whole.  Strong  and  distinctive  individuali- 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  39 

ties  have  the  power  to  make  or  mar  society.  They 
have  the  independence  of  thought  and  the  strength  of 
character  to  become  leaders.  Properly  developed  they 
become  the  preservers  of  what  is  good  and  the  advo- 
cates of  what  may  become  better.  The  growth  of 
society  depends  upon  the  education  of  such  leaders. 
Alexander  Hamilton  was  just  such  a  character  whose 
talents  were  rightly  directed.  Aaron  Burr,  with  almost 
equal  talents,  became  a  source  of  danger  to  society 
and  the  State. 

This  sympathetic  insight  into  individual  disposition 
and  this  appreciation  of  social  spirit  in  groups  and 
classes  are,  as  it  were,  the  two  wings  which  bear  up  the 
teacher  in  his  mental  flight.  If  either  of  these  wings 
is  clipped  or  disabled,  he  will  have  but  an  irregular  and 
broken  movement.  The  equipoise  between  these  oppo- 
site mental  attitudes  gives  that  broader  range  of 
thought  and  feeling  which  insures  a  safe  course  of 
action. 

We  shall  have  occasion  to  discuss  this  dualism  again 
under  the  head  of  class  instruction. 

VII.  In  discussing  the  contradictory  elements  and 
pairs  of  elements  involved  in  school  management,  we 
meet,  finally,  a  triple  combination  of  necessary  quali- 
ties which  are  hard  to  unite  in  school  administration. 
In  exercising  authority  over  children  the  teacher  uses 
and  combines  the  three  primary  functions  of  govern- 
ment. He  is,  in  his  one  person,  the  lawmaker,  the 
judge,  and  the  executive  officer.  This  is  giving  large 
powers  into  the  hands  of  one  person.  He  can  use  his 


40    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

own  judgment  as  to  how  far  a  child  has  transgressed 
his  law  and  as  to  the  penalty  to  be  inflicted.  He  can 
proceed  at  once  to  the  execution  of  his  sentence  with- 
out interference.  If  he  is  a  strong  teacher  he  can  be 
very  arbitrary  and  tyrannical.  In  short,  he  exercises 
^the  three  different  functions  of  government  in  full 
measure.  It  is  a  matter  of  much  skill  and  discretion  to 
combine  in  his  one  single  action  the  strong,  character- 
istic attributes  that  go  distinctively  into  these  three 
quite  different  functions.  As  a  lawmaker,  he  needs  the 
kind  of  wisdom  which  covers  a  wide  knowledge  of  all 
the  facts  and  conditions  which  we  have  thus  far  de- 
scribed as  involved  in  his  work.  Only  thus  can  he  make 
laws  adequate  to  satisfy  these  conditions.  As  a  judge, 
he  possesses  the  judicial  temperament.  He  will  show  a 
fully  enlightened,  impartial,  well-balanced  mind.  He 
will  estimate  penalties  fairly.  If  he  takes  pains  to  be 
deliberate,  fair-minded,  that  is,  just,  in  his  judgments, 
he  is  almost  certain  to  command  an  increasing  respect. 
Lastly,  a  strong,  energetic  will,  steady  and  sure  in  its 
action,  is  a  very  necessary  quality  of  a  school  ruler.  If 
he  has  all  these  distinctive  qualities  well  balanced,  he 
is  fitted  to  govern  a  school.  To  possess  any  one  of  these 
qualities  in  full  measure  is  a  worthy  achievement.  In 
modern  governments,  whether  of  City,  State,  or  Na- 
tion, these  three  functions  are  separately  exercised  by 
three  different  sets  of  persons.  One  of  the  great  diffi- 
culties in  politics  is  to  devise  a  system  of  government 
by  which  we  shall  be  able  to  secure  qualified  specialists 
in  each  of  these  three  departments.  No  civilized  nation 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  41 

to-day  permits  all  three  of  these  functions  to  be  mo- 
nopolized by  one  person  or  group  of  persons.  But  in 
the  teacher,  we  take  the  risk  and  venture  to  combine 
all  these  high  and  difficult  attributes  in  one  person.  He 
is  called  upon  to  work  out  the  coordination  and  har- 
mony of  these  and  of  other  more  or  less  conflicting 
elements.  This  constitutes  the  peculiar  difficulty  or 
problem  that  attaches  to  disciplinary  and  administra- 
tive work  in  education. 

From  this  discussion  of  school  management  we  may 
draw  certain  conclusions:  — 

1.  By  an  examination  of  these  various  conflicts  we 
find  that  the  teacher  must  take  a  deep  look  into  his 
own  nature,  and  into  that  of  the  child.  It  involves 
reflective  self-examination  and  penetrating,  sym- 
pathetic, objective  observation  of  children.  He 
finds  that  he  is  subject  to  the  very  laws  which  he 
attempts  to  apply  to  children.  Only  he  must  have 
fully  learned  the  lesson  before  he  can  apply  it  freshly 
to  those  now  caught  in  the  crude  process  of  learning. 

2.  The  points  of  special  difficulty  in  school  manage- 
ment appear  at  those  junctures  where  two  opposing 
principles  threaten  to  produce  conflict.  At  these 
junctures  the  teacher  must  take  time  to  acquire  a 
broader,  more  constructive  view  which  not  only 
dissolves  the  conflict,  but,  by  the  union  of  these 
forces,  gets  the  full  benefit  of  their  combined 
strength. 

3.  He  is  usually  accounted  a  strong  teacher  who  is 
sufficiently  large-minded  and  many-sided  and  well 


42    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

balanced  to  combine  these  various  pairs  of  conflict- 
ing elements  into  the  unity  of  his  own  person  al  life. 
Thus  equipped,  he  sets  out  confidently  with  the 
purpose  of  molding  the  character  of  the  young 
through  his  personal  influence. 

4.  Yet  this  so-called  strong  teacher,  with  his  positive 
and  aggressive  personality,  meets  the  child  with  his 
impulses,  disposition,  and  habits.  Unexpected 
results  follow  and  a  new  and  still  more  difficult 
problem  arises.  If  conflict  is  to  be  avoided  and 
cooperation  with  children  along  right  lines  gained, 
it  will  be  necessary  first  of  all  to  get  into  sympa- 
thetic relation  to  them,  and  to  organize  the  whole 
campaign  of  education  with  reference  to  their  na- 
ture and  peculiarities. 

5.  The  school  itself  is  a  society,  and  has  for  its  solution 
that  fundamental  problem  of  all  society  —  child 
versus  the  social  whole.  On  the  one  side,  the  train- 
ing of  the  child  into  service  and  subordination  to 
social  needs,  and  on  the  other,  the  duty  of  society 
toward  the  child,  to  give  him  freedom  and  oppor- 
tunity for  self-realization.  Child  and  society  must 
be  brought  into  proper  mutual  adjustment  to  the 
equal  advantage  of  all. 

6.  All  these  problems  culminate  in  the  problem  of 
government,  with  its  triple  array  of  those  primary 
qualifications  which  are  to  be  coordinated  and  or- 
ganized into  the  unity  and  balanced  strength  of  the 
teacher's  character. 

7.  The  problem  of  the  school  is  the  problem  of  the 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  43 

home,  of  the  local  community,  of  the  State,  of 
the  Nation,  and  of  international  cooperation.  The 
school  is  trying  to  work  out  the  fundamental  prob- 
lem of  social  organization. 

In  the  previous  discussion,  we  have  made  use  of 
occasional  illustrations  to  give  a  more  concrete  and 
experimental  basis  for  our  argument.  It  would  be  pos- 
sible to  enlarge  indefinitely  this  phase  of  the  treatment. 
For  this  purpose  the  whole  field  of  experience  could  be 
drawn  upon.  The  theory  of  contrasts  and  contradic- 
tions requires  to  be  illustrated  from  many  points  of 
vantage  in  schoolroom  practice.  The  difficulty  of  com- 
bining these  contrasted  principles  and  successful 
modes  of  doing  this  can  be  much  more  completely 
illustrated.  We  can  all  reproduce  in  memory  the  dis- 
tinctive qualities  of  those  teachers  who  have  taught 
us  in  childhood  and  youth,  as  well  as  those  known  to  us 
in  later  years.  How  many  well-balanced  teachers  can 
we  recall  who  combined  in  good  proportion  such  dis- 
crepant qualities  as  critical  keenness  and  kindly  en- 
couragement, severe  firmness  combined  with  gentle- 
ness, genuine  seriousness  and  gayety  or  humor,  firm 
dignity  and  kindly  familiarity,  strong  self-respect  or 
egoism  and  humility,  a  dominating  will  and  many- 
sided  sympathy  and  appreciation?  In  how  many  cases 
do  we  find  that  those  who  were  accounted  strong 
teachers  were  strong  in  one  quality  and  weak  in  its 
counterpart,  and  therefore  one-sided?  We  may  dis- 
cover that  human  nature  in  teachers  tends  to  a  pre- 


44    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

ponderance  of  one  strong  quality  rather  than  to  a  bal- 
ancing of  several  pairs  of  antipodal  virtues.  Our  own 
daily  experience  in  the  schoolroom  offers  us  frequent 
opportunity  to  test  out  the  ways  of  combining  such 
opposites  as  helpfulness  and  self-help,  control  and 
freedom,  reserve  and  spontaneity,  seriousness  and 
humor,  etc. 

In  this  connection,  biography  and  good  novels  fur- 
nish abundant  illustrations  of  wise  and  unwise  modes 
of  treating  children.  The  Autobiography  of  Franklin 
and  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  Dickens's  novels,  Jane  Eyre, 
School-Days  at  Rugby,  Pestalozzi's  Leonard  and  Ger- 
trude, Jean  Mitchell's  School,  the  Hoosier  Schoolmaster, 
are  illustrations. 

A  few  of  the  famous  schoolmasters  who  embodied 
the  principles  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  discussion  are 
briefly  described  as  follows :  — 

Among  famous  teachers,  Fenelon,  the  author  of 
Telemaque,  illustrates  the  combination  of  opposing 
elements  that  enter  into  the  make-up  of  a  strong 
teacher.  He  was  one  of  the  great  Frenchmen  of  his 
time,  1651-1715. 

Suddenly  he  was  called  to  the  responsible  position  of  pre- 
ceptor of  the  dauphin's  son,  the  young  Duke  of  Burgundy. . . . 
No  man  probably  was  ever  better  fitted  than  Fenelon  for  the 
difficult  position  which  he  now  assumed,  and  to  which  he 
mainly  devoted  himself  during  the  next  six  years  (1689-95). 
He  was  a  born  teacher  in  the  highest  sense,  —  gifted  with  the 
most  charming  qualities  of  patience,  sweetness  of  temper, 
tact,  and  address,  yet  inflexible  in  principle,  and  severe  and 
unbending  in  his  methods  of  training.  He  had  the  manners  of 
a  grand  seigneur,  with  all  the  intellectual  refinements  of  an 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  45 

accomplished  churchman.  Saint-Simon  in  his  Memoires  has 
left  a  portrait  of  him  about  this  time  which  has  often  been 
quoted,  and  from  which  we  extract  only  a  few  sentences.  "  He 
was  a  tall  thin  man,  well  made,  pale,  with  a  large  nose,  eyes 
whence  fire  and  talent  streamed  like  a  torrent,  and  a  physiog- 
nomy the  like  of  which  I  have  never  seen  in  any  other  man, 
and  which  once  seen  one  could  never  forget.  It  combined 
everything,  and  the  greatest  contradictions  produced  no 
want  of  harmony.  It  united  seriousness  and  gayety ,  gravity, 
and  courtesy  —  the  prevailing  characteristic,  as  in  every- 
thing about  him,  being  refinement,  intellect,  gracefulness, 
modesty,  and  above  all  noblesse.  It  was  difficult  to  take  one's 
eyes  off  him.  All  his  portraits  are  speaking,  and  yet  none  of 
them  have  caught  the  exquisite  harmony  which  struck  one 
in  the  original,  or  the  exceeding  delicacy  of  every  feature. 
His  manner  altogether  corresponded  to  his  appearance;  his 
perfect  ease  was  infectious  to  others,  and  his  conversation 
was  stamped  with  the  grace  and  good  taste  which  are  only 
acquired  by  habitual  intercourse  with  the  best  society  and 
the  great  world."  He  had  need  of  all  his  brilliant  and  solid 
qualities  in  the  task  which  he  had  undertaken.  The  young 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  as  the  same  writer  remarks,  "was  born 
with  a  naturel  which  made  one  tremble.  He  was  so  passionate 
that  he  would  break  the  clocks  which  summoned  him  to  some 
unwelcome  duty,  and  fly  into  the  wildest  rage  with  the  rain 
which  hindered  some  pleasure."  He  was  withal  warm-hearted 
and  clever,  —  in  fact,  "dangerously  quick  in  penetrating 
both  things  and  people."  Fenelon  had  full  scope  for  the  exer- 
cise of  his  marvelous  educational  art,  and  the  result  was  a 
success  far  beyond  what  is  usual  in  such  cases.  The  impetu- 
ous but  affectionate  and  bright  child  grew  under  his  charge 
into  an  earnest,  well-disciplined,  and  promising,  if  somewhat 
over-scrupulous  and  timid  youth,  whose  life,  if  spared,  might 
have  brought  blessing  to  France.1 

If  such  a  remarkable  skill  and  personality  were  re- 
quired to  train  one  boy  successfully,  we  are  tempted 
to  inquire  what  qualities  are  needed  in  a  teacher  of 
forty  children? 

1  Enqjclopwdia  Britannica. 


46    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

Vittorino  da  Feltre,  the  most  distinguished  Italian 
schoolmaster  of  the  fifteenth  century,  for  many  years 
at  the  head  of  the  school  La  Giocosa  near  Mantua,  was 
notable  for  his  gentleness  and  firmness. 

Vittorino  definitely  held  himself  the  father  of  his  scholars. 
It  was  with  him  no  formal  claim.  His  school  entirely  absorbed 
him.  He  watched  the  youngest  with  affection  and  hope,  the 
elders  with  pride  and  confidence.  Himself  moving  always 
amid  the  larger  things  of  life,  the  power  that  went  forth  from 
him  insensibly  raised  the  tone  of  thought  and  motive  in  those 
around  him.  His  singleness  of  purpose  was  quickly  felt,  and  a 
word  or  even  a  glance  of  disapproval  was,  with  the  keenly 
sensitive  Italian  youth,  often  sufficient  to  bring  tears  of 
shame  and  repentance  to  the  eyes  of  a  culprit.  Living  a  com- 
mon life  with  his  scholars  in  meals,  in  games,  in  excursions, 
always  sharing  their  interests  and  pleasures,  his  control  over 
the  sixty  or  seventy  boys  under  his  charge  was  such  that 
harsh  punishments  were  not  needed.  Naturally  quick-tem- 
pered, he  had  schooled  himself  to  a  self-control  which  never 
gave  way  except  in  face  of  irreverence  or  looseness.  Corporal 
punishment  was  very  seldom  resorted  to,  and  then  only  after 
deliberation,  and  as  the  alternative  to  expulsion.  For  ill- 
prepared  work  the  penalty  imposed  was  the  compulsory  re- 
learning  of  the  task  after  school  hours.  But  it  was  part  of 
Vittorino's  purpose  to  attract  rather  than  to  drive,  and  to 
respect  the  dignity  and  the  freedom  of  his  boys.  So  he  re- 
fused, after  fair  trial  made,  to  force  learning  upon  an  unwill- 
ing scholar,  holding  that  nature  had  not  endowed  all  with 
taste  or  capacity  for  study.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  time 
that  Vittorino  could  appeal  with  confidence  to  the  personal 
and  family  distinction  conferred  by  excellence  in  the  study  of 
Letters.  It  was  a  motive  to  which  most  youths  of  spirit  eag- 
erly responded.1 

A  study  of  the  life  of  Thomas  Arnold  will  show  a 
similar  combination  of  strength  and  power  of  person- 
ality with  gentleness  and  affection. 

1  Woodward,  Vittorino  da  Feltre,  and  other  Humanist  Educators. 


SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  47 

Horace  Mann  also  in  his  work  as  a  teacher  shows 
that  inflexibility  of  purpose  combined  with  personal 
charm  and  absorption  into  the  lives  and  interests  of 
students  that  gave  him  strong  influence  over  the 
young. 


CHAPTER  III 


INSTRUCTION  — LOGICAL  CONTINUITY  AND  CROSS 
LINES  IN    THINKING 

In  dealing  with  an  important  topic  in  classroom 
work,  the  thought  movements  necessary  to  a  mastery 
of  the  materials  of  knowledge  often  run  counter  to 
each  other  and  produce  antagonisms. 

These  interfering  thought  waves,  however,  are  nec- 
essary stages  in  the  process  of  mastering  and  organiz- 
ing complex  topics.  One  phase  of  this  inevitable  dual- 
ism in  thinking  processes  can  be  expressed  by  a  dia- 
gram. It  shows  in  a  crude  way  the  two  opposing 
thought  impulses  which  play  across  each  other,  at 
right  angles,  in  treating  any  important  topic. 

This  diagram  suggests,  first, 

-  —    —  a  strong  fundamental  thought 

-  —    —  movement   through  a  series 
of  main  topics  or  subheads, 

■    —    —  shown  by  the  heavy  lines  or 

segments;  and  second,  lateral 

*    ~    ~  movements    or    side    issues 

"    —    —  reaching  out  at  right  angles 

-  —    —  from  the  main  segments,  and 
[    ~    ZZ  expressed  by  numerous  lines 

stretching  out  to  the  right 
—    —  and  left.   This  diagram  im- 
plies an  inherent  and  ines- 


INSTRUCTION  49 

capable  dualism,  which  is  grounded  in  the  very 
structure  of  thinking.  We  must  think  backwards  and 
forwards  along  the  main  line  and  also  to  the  right  and 
left  in  order  to  keep  our  balance.  We  require  a  double 
flexibility  and  range  in  our  thinking. 

The  physical  organism  suggests  a  similar  flexibility 
in  seeing.  The  eyes  are  not  fixed  in  the  head,  so  as  to 
see  only  straight  forward,  like  a  horse  with  blinkers, 
but  they  can  be  turned  to  the  right  or  left  or  up  and 
down  so  as  to  take  in  a  wider  range  of  objects.  The 
head,  also,  is  set  on  a  pivot  so  as  to  turn  easily  and  still 
further  increase  the  range  of  vision.  The  mind  does 
not  and  should  not  stick  to  a  straight  line.  It  must  be 
flexible  so  as  to  take  in  a  wide  range  of  objects.  It  must 
even  focus  attention  at  times  to  the  right  or  left,  with 
seeming  negligence  of  the  main  issue.  It  may  be  neces- 
sary to  check  the  main  line  of  advance  in  order  to  get 
time  to  make  more  or  less  extended  excursions  to  the 
right  or  left.  This  brings  us  to  the  point  of  antagonism 
where  the  lines  of  thought  cross  each  other,  as  it  were, 
at  right  angles.  One,  in  turn,  must  give  way  to  the 
other,  because  they  cannot  both  operate  at  the  same 
instant. 

The  process  of  weaving  cloth  suggests  another  anal- 
ogy to  our  processes  of  thinking.  In  weaving,  the 
threads  run  in  two  directions  at  right  angles,  and  the 
loom  is  a  device  for  intertwining  these  two  crossing 
sets  of  threads.  Thinking,  also,  projects  main  lines  of 
thought  and  then  plays  back  and  forth  across  these 
main  lines  with  another  series  of  thought  relations. 


50    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

The  above  diagram  suggests,  first,  a  strong  series  of 
connected  sub-units  which  give  the  logical  outline  of  a 
complete  whole  or  unit  of  study;  second,  other  lateral 
lines  of  thought  which  radiate  from  the  sub-units  as 
centers.  For  illustration,  if  we  were  studying  such  a 
topic  as  "The  Government  Reclamation  of  Arid  Lands 
by  Irrigation  Projects,"  we  might  lay  out  the  series  of 
important  sub-topics  as  follows :  — 

1.  The  general  physical  survey  of  the  Salt  River  Irrigation 
Project  in  Arizona. 

2.  The  building  of  the  Roosevelt  Dam.  Forming  a  lake 
twenty-five  miles  long. 

3.  The  diversion  dam  and  canals  for  distributing  the  water 
to  the  lands  involved  (160,000  acres). 

4.  Effects  of  this  irrigation  upon  agriculture,  in  products, 
farms,  villages,  settlements,  etc. 

5.  The  Government  regulations  for  division  of  lands  among 
settlers. 

6.  Brief  description  of  other  similar  projects,  such  as  the 
Truckee  and  Carson  project  in  Nevada  and  the  Shoshone 
project  in  Idaho.  Comparison  of  these  three  projects, 
results,  etc. 

7.  Map  study  to  show  location  and  number  of  the  large  irri- 
gation projects  of  the  United  States  Government  through- 
out the  West. 

8.  Extent  of  private  irrigation  schemes  and  comparison  with 
Government  works.  Increased  wealth  of  the  arid  regions 
due  to  irrigation. 

9.  Irrigation  in  Mexico  and  other  countries. 

This  series  of  sub-topics  gives  us  a  fundamental 
logical  thought  movement  which  develops  into  a  com- 
prehensive survey  of  an  important  field  of  knowledge 
as  embraced  in  this  unit  of  study.  But  each  of  these 
sub-topics  is  in  turn  a  center  from  which  we  branch  out 
to  gather  in  facts  and  knowledge  materials  to  be  organ- 


INSTRUCTION  51 

ized  in  relation  to  this  center.  Topic  2,  for  example, 
"The  Building  of  the  Roosevelt  Dam,"  runs  as  fol- 
lows in  its  full  treatment:  — 

At  the  point  where  the  Government  decided  to  build  the 
dam,  the  river  had  cut  down  into  the  rocks,  making  a  deep, 
narrow  canon  with  high  walls.  Here  the  Roosevelt  Dam 
was  to  be  built,  240  feet  high  and  700  feet  long,  across  the 
narrow  gorge.  One  can,  perhaps,  imagine  how  strong  and 
solid  such  a  dam  must  be  built  to  hold  back  the  waters  of  a 
lake  so  deep  and  long.  It  must  be  laid  deep  in  the  solid  rock 
and  built  with  such  a  broad  base  and  thick  walls  that  nothing 
could  undermine  or  break  it  down. 

In  order  to  bring  the  tools  and  materials  to  this  spot  in  the 
mountains  it  was  necessary  to  construct  a  paved  road  from 
Phoenix  through  a  very  broken  and  rugged  country.  The 
cities  of  Phoenix,  Tempe,  and  Mesa  contributed  $75,000  to 
the  construction  of  this  fine  mountain  road.  The  Apache  and 
other  Indian  tribes  of  Arizona  furnished  an  excellent  body  of 
workmen  for  the  construction  of  this  road. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  the  dam  were  found  the  rock  and 
cement  necessary  for  the  construction.  This  saved  the  ex- 
pense of  hauling  these  heavy  materials  long  distances.  Here 
was  built  by  the  Government  a  large  mill  for  the  production 
of  concrete  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of  the  great  dam. 
On  the  slopes  of  the  neighboring  mountains  were  found  ex- 
tensive forests.  Much  lumber  was  needed  in  the  scaffolding 
for  the  building  of  the  dam  and  the  Government  set  up  two 
large  sawmills  to  convert  the  logs  into  lumber.  In  the  river 
near  the  dam  was  developed  an  electric  plant  of  some  ten 
thousand  horse-power  which  was  used  in  mixing  and  hand- 
ling the  cement  and  constructing  the  dam.  The  water-power 
of  the  river  was,  therefore,  chiefly  used  for  building  the  dam 
which  checked  the  river  in  its  course  and  caused  it  to  form 
the  lake. 

With  the  completion  of  the  dam  a  lake  twenty-five  miles 
long  is  formed  in  the  season  of  floods,  and  the  water  thus 
held  in  reserve  may  be  used  lower  down  the  valley  during  the 
dry  months  of  summer. 


52    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

All  the  other  topics  of  the  main  series  are  treated 
with  similar  fullness.  By  this  expansive  treatment  of 
each  of  the  sub-topics,  we  halt,  for  the  time  being,  the 
forward  movement  of  thought  along  the  main  line,  and 
permit  ourselves  to  digress  into  the  side  lines,  for  a  col- 
lection and  grouping  of  interesting  and  necessary 
material  around  each  sub-topic.  There  is  danger,  in- 
deed, that,  because  of  the  richness  and  interest  of  the 
materials,  we  may  digress  too  far  and  may  lose  sight  of 
our  fundamental  thought  movement.  That  the  two 
lines  of  thought  are  somewhat  contradictory  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  an  over-emphasis  of  the  one  tends  to 
obliterate  the  other.  A  not  uncommon  fault,  for  exam- 
ple, is  that  of  becoming  so  much  interested  in  the  sub- 
ordinate side  line  as  to  lose  connection  with  the  main 
argument. 

We  will  next  take  up  each  of  these  oppositional 
thought  movements  and  discuss  it  more  fully. 

I.  In  dealing  with  any  well-rounded  unit  of  study, 
it  is  commonly  agreed  that  one  should  follow  a  close 
sequence  in  thinking.  This  sequence  is  developed 
through  a  succession  of  leading  steps  or  sub-topics  in 
the  argument.  In  these  sub-topics  the  essential  fea- 
tures of  the  thought  culminate  or  stand  out  promi- 
nently. This  demand  for  a  well-organized  series  of 
closely  related  yet  distinctive  topics  gives  a  high  stand- 
ard of  thinking.  To  bring  this  kind  of  organization 
into  a  large,  complex  unit  of  study  requires  strong 
intellectual  effort  and  well-balanced  judgment  in  hold- 
ing to  a  close  causal  or  logical  sequence.   It  demands 


INSTRUCTION  53 

careful  estimating  of  values,  selecting  and  grouping  of 
facts,  so  as  to  bring  the  essentials  into  prominence. 
Good  instruction  will  hold  to  this  central  line  of  argu- 
ment. It  will  not  be  jumping  the  track  and  wandering 
off  into  uncertain  and  unrelated  fields.  The  task  of 
concentrating  the  mind  upon  the  main  steps  in  the 
argument  is  imperative.  In  our  time  looseness  and 
diffusion  of  thought  have  become  a  chronic  fault. 

We  have  been  multiplying  studies  and  accumulating 
an  endless  variety  of  knowledge  materials.  But  teach- 
ers have  not  developed  much  original  power  of  organi- 
zation along  fundamental  thought  lines.  What  organ- 
ization we  have  has  been  imposed  upon  teachers  and 
pupils  alike  by  the  textbook.  The  textbook  organiza- 
tion has  usually  been  accepted  as  authoritative.  In 
some  studies  it  is  good,  in  others  the  textbook  organ- 
ization has  been  poor,  as  in  elementary  science,  in 
much  of  history  and  geography;  and  teachers  have 
formed  bad  habits  by  following  bad  examples.  Of  late, 
there  has  been  improvement  in  this  regard. 

In  some  subjects,  teachers  engage  in  loose  conversa- 
tions and  wander  about  more  or  less  aimlessly  among 
facts  and  fancies.  They  lose  sight  of  fundamental  con- 
trols, i.e.,  strong  serial  lines  of  thought.  The  impulse 
to  correlate  a  topic  with  everything  and  to  follow  up 
chance  interests  and  associations  has  produced  in  some 
quarters  a  wandering  and  inconstant  spirit  in  class- 
room instruction  which  travels  to  the  world's  end  in 
search  of  novelties. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  and  unusual  undertakings 


54    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

for  even  experienced  teachers  is  to  organize  well  a  new 
and  complex  subject  broad  in  scope  and  rich  in  variety 
of  new  materials.  To  select  the  controlling  idea  for  an 
entire  unit  of  study  and  to  follow  this  up  with  a  strong 
series  of  closely  related  sub-topics  for  the  same,  calls 
for  the  sharpest  kind  of  thinking.  It  requires  a  keen 
perception  in  picking  out  from  a  mass  of  materials  the 
pivotal  points  in  the  argument,  and  second,  a  logical 
mind  to  arrange  these  points  into  a  necessary  and  con- 
vincing sequence.  Very  few  even  of  the  most  experi- 
enced and  capable  teachers  have  acquired  this  peculiar 
kind  of  ability;  for  our  textbook  methods  of  teaching 
throughout  do  not  lead  up  to  the  acquisition  of  this 
kind  of  power.  Our  writers  on  education  give  us  few 
or  no  examples  of  it  taken  from  regular  school  topics. 
The  thing  which  it  has  been  assumed  any  one  can  do  if 
he  will  only  try,  is  the  thing  that  no  one  as  yet  has  been 
bold  enough  to  attempt.  The  truth  of  the  above  state- 
ment may  not  appear  as  yet,  but  will  be  more  appar- 
ent when  we  have  dealt  with  the  second  element  in  our 
contradiction. 

The  peculiar  problem  of  our  time  is  furnished  by  an 
over-accumulation  of  miscellaneous  materials  which 
now  await  the  fashioning  mind  of  the  organizer  who 
realizes  the  full  value  of  a  few  ideas  as  centers  of  or- 
ganization, or  better  of  growing  ideas  as  furnishing  the 
main  lines  of  organization. 

II.  Now  for  the  other  side  of  this  contradiction. 
While  following  this  main  line  of  thought,  the  mind 
also  plays  back  and  forth  at  right  angles  to  it,  and 


INSTRUCTION  55 

directly  athwart  its  main  current,  weaving  a  web  of 
necessary  associations  and  cross-connections.  This 
second  cross-fire  of  thought  is  quite  as  fundamental  to 
sound  thinking  as  the  main  sequence  or  logical  devel- 
opment. It  alone  can  give  proper  breadth  and  balance 
to  one's  reasoning.  Heretofore  it  has  not  been  so  con- 
sidered. Each  important  point  or  sub-topic  becomes  a 
smaller  center  of  organization.  We  understand  a  fact 
when  we  see  clearly  its  causal  and  vital  relations  to 
other  important  things  not  involved  in  the  main  logical 
sequence  of  thought.  The  study  of  a  topic  in  its  whole 
environment,  i.e.,  in  its  various  side  bearings,  is  the 
only  feasible  way  of  getting  at  its  real  meaning.  Much 
of  our  best  thinking  runs  into  these  outward  excursions 
from  a  central  sub-topic  into  the  surrounding  world. 
Otherwise  we  fail  to  balance  it  up  in  its  proper  adjust- 
ment to  life  conditions.  As  in  a  great  railroad  system, 
the  tributary  branch  lines,  in  the  aggregate,  may  be 
quite  as  important  in  their  service  as  the  trunk  line. 
Indeed,  they  largely  supply  the  main  line  with  traffic. 
Demonstrations  of  this  truth  are  needed. 

In  discussing  the  harbor  of  a  seaport  city  like  New 
York,  for  example,  the  simple  fact  that  New  York 
has  a  safe,  deep,  and  commodious  harbor  is  the  funda- 
mental thing,  and  little  more  than  this  is  mentioned  in 
our  textbooks.  But  this  is  not  adequate  for  teaching 
purposes.  It  is  too  narrow  in  scope.  Really  to  under- 
stand the  harbor  of  New  York  City,  as  the  focal  center 
into  which  is  gathered  half  of  the  foreign  commerce  of 
the  United  States,  it  will  be  necessary  to  branch  out  in 


56    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

several  directions  into  a  much  broader,  richer,  descrip- 
tive treatment  of  the  subject.  This  enlargement  of  the 
topic  to  include  a  fuller  background  of  concrete  facts 
upon  which  to  base  a  real  understanding  would  reach 
out  somewhat  as  follows :  — 

1.  Maps  showing  the  local  physical  character  and  surround- 
ings, the  lower  and  upper  bays,  the  rivers,  the  hills,  the 
islands,  the  location  of  New  York  City,  Brooklyn,  Jersey 
City,  etc.  A  concrete  bird's-eye  view  is  thus  gained  of  the 
whole  situation. 

2.  The  present  location  and  extent  of  wharfage  along  the 
shore-lines  of  rivers  and  bays,  the  local  distribution  of 
coastwise  and  foreign  shipping.  Locate  on  the  map  the 
wharves  of  a  few  of  the  great  steamship  lines,  as  the 
North  German  Lloyd  at  Hoboken;  the  White  Star  Line; 
the  Providence  and  Fall  River  Line  on  the  east  shore  of 
the  Hudson. 

3.  The  variety  of  shipping,  ocean  liners,  river  steamboats, 
sailing  craft,  ferryboats,  tugs  and  lighters,  yachts,  war- 
vessels,  and  navy  yards;  shipping  docks  with  the  machine 
equipments,  warehouses,  and  merchandise;  a  series  of 
harbor  pictures  is  essential. 

4.  Improvements  in  the  harbor:  size  and  construction  of 
docks;  dredging  out  the  entrances;  blowing  up  the  rocks 
at  Hell  Gate;  lighthouses,  buoys;  the  pilot  service;  ex- 
pense in  such  improvements. 

5.  Forts  for  the  protection  of  the  city  and  harbor  from  pos- 
sible foreign  attack :  location  of  chief  batteries  at  the  Nar- 
rows, on  Sandy  Hook,  etc. 

6.  The  emigration  office  and  Ellis  Island;  quarantine  sta- 
tion; the  influx  of  foreigners;  summer  travel;  picture  of 
loaded  steamers  and  of  Ellis  Island. 

7.  Sights  in  the  harbor:  Governor's  Island;  the  Statue  of 
Liberty;  the  great  bridges;  views  of  the  city  from  the  deck 
of  incoming  vessels;  amusement  resorts  and  bathing- 
stations  along  the  shores. 

8.  The  custom  house,  customs  officers  and  their  examina- 
tion of  goods;  smuggling;  revenue  cutters;  control  by  the 
National  Government. 


INSTRUCTION  57 

9.  The  harbor  in  relation  to  inland  traffic  by  water  and  by 
rail;  railroad  stations  and  relation  to  harbor,  docks,  etc.; 
concentration  of  great  traffic  lines  at  New  York. 

The  vast  majority  of  inland  children  have  no  ade- 
quate notion  of  such  a  seaport  and  harbor,  one  of  the 
most  important  centers  and  types  of  human  activity 
in  the  world  to-day.  By  carefully  picturing  and  under- 
standing one  such  harbor,  they  may  soon  learn  to  inter- 
pret other  large  seaports  in  the  United  States  and  in 
other  lands. 

Is  it  worth  while,  once  in  our  lives,  to  appreciate  in  a 
lively  fashion  the  sights  and  activities  presented  in 
such  a  world-harbor?  If  so,  we  must  take  time  to  view 
it  in  these  various  aspects,  to  get  the  full  setting  of  the 
idea.  We  must  halt  in  our  journey  long  enough  to  make 
a  series  of  excursions  which  give  us  concretely,  from 
various  points  of  view,  the  essential  aspects  of  our 
topic.  Any  really  important  idea  demands  such  a 
treatment. 

The  second  stage  in  handling  a  big  topic  like  New 
York  harbor  should  involve  comparisons.  The  harbors 
of  the  cities  along  the  Atlantic  Coast  should  be  briefly 
shown  by  local  maps  and  descriptions,  and  their  ad- 
vantages and  disadvantages  as  compared  with  New 
York  made  clear.  Boston  also  has  a  large  harbor,  but 
not  so  deep  nor  so  commodious  as  that  of  New  York, 
and  not  so  favorably  located  for  Western  inland 
trade.  Philadelphia  has  a  limited  river-harbor,  and  its 
entrance-way  up  the  Delaware  is  too  shallow  for  the 
largest  vessels.   Norfolk  on  the  Chesapeake  has  a  spa- 


58    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

cious  entrance  and  harbor,  but  less  favorable  connec- 
tions landward,  and  across  the  mountains.  Charleston 
and  Savannah,  like  New  York,  have  dredged  channels. 
In  the  harbors  of  Southern  cities  these  channels  are 
protected  by  rock  jetties,  leading  from  the  open  sea 
into  the  harbors.  New  Orleans  had  great  difficulty  in 
getting  large  ships  to  the  docks  because  of  the  shallow 
mud-bars  at  the  delta  outlets  of  the  Mississippi,  till 
Captain  Eads  produced  a  deep  channel  with  his  wise 
scheme  of  willow-mattress  jetties.  This  opens  the 
whole  Mississippi  Valley  to  foreign  trade  at  New  Or- 
leans. San  Francisco  has  a  harbor  entrance  and  a  great 
bay  that  rivals  New  York  City's  advantages.  It  has 
also  important  connections  with  the  hinterland,  though 
not  so  good  as  New  York's.  The  Puget  Sound  cities 
also  have  deep  salt-water  harbors  and  a  world  traffic. 
On  the  Great  Lakes,  Chicago  has  produced  an  artifi- 
cial harbor  and  plans  extensive  harbor  improvements. 
Duluth  has  a  land-locked  harbor  that  will  rival  the 
harbors  of  seaboard  cities,  while  Milwaukee,  Cleveland, 
Detroit,  and  Buffalo  have  important  harbor  advan- 
tages, partly  natural,  partly  artificial.  The  relative  im- 
portance of  our  great  seaport,  river,  and  lake  cities  is 
based  in  large  part  upon  the  harbor  facilities  they 
have  been  able  to  provide.  European  and  other  cities 
may  be  later  drawn  into  this  comparative  survey,  as 
Liverpool,  Hamburg,  Antwerp,  etc.  Full  harbor  maps 
should  be  shown. 

The  habit  of  making  such  comparisons  in  the  second 
stage  of  the  treatment  of  large  topics  is  growing  upon 


INSTRUCTION  59 

us.  It  is  a  surprisingly  efficient  means  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  rich  and  varied  materials.  This  comparative 
thinking  is  also  an  excellent  training  of  judgment,  of 
how  to  estimate  values.  It,  moreover,  extends  the 
range  of  important  facts  organized  under  one  idea  or 
topic.  It  brings  out  clearly  the  power  of  one  significant 
idea  in  interpreting  a  long  series  of  important  facts 
which  are  thus  brought  together  and  organized  into 
unity  of  thought.  It  is  just  in  this  way  that  we  come 
to  an  appreciation  of  those  fundamental  ideas  which 
are  now  operative  on  a  large  scale  in  organizing  the 
industries,  and  in  the  social-political  activities  of  the 
world.  The  failure  to  make  such  comparisons  is  due 
to  an  unwillingness  to  spend  time  in  branching  out  at 
right  angles  to  the  main  line  of  thought  in  a  series  of 
topics.  Comparisons  are  based  upon  similarity  and 
contrast,  and  they  call  for  an  outward  movement  of 
thought  crosswise  to  the  main  series  of  topics.  This  is 
further  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  harbor  of  New 
York  is  merely  one  topic  in  the  main  series  on  New 
York  City. 

Other  topics  in  this  large  unit  of  study  which  permit 
this  same  mode  of  treatment  by  full  description  and 
extended  comparison  are  as  follows :  — 

1.  Foreign  and  domestic  or  inland  commerce  centering  in 
New  York. 

2.  The  water  supply  and  sewer  system;  aqueducts;  reser- 
voirs. 

3.  Sanitary  improvements;   cleaning  the  streets;  the  park 
system;  hospitals,  etc. 

4.  Manufacturing. 


60    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

5.  The  rapid  transit  systems. 

6.  The  population,  races  and  language,  and  immigration. 

7.  Education;  schools  and  colleges. 

8.  Government. 


Each  of  these  topics  admits  of  a  treatment  similar 
in  the  two  stages  to  that  of  New  York  Harbor:  (1)  The 
stage  of  concrete  amplification.  (2)  The  broader 
comparisons  with  other  cities  along  similar  lines.  In 
brief,  each  sub-topic  in  such  a  complete  unit  of  study 
admits  of  this  enlargement  at  the  two  important  stages 
of  its  treatment.  Much  of  the  best  teaching  and  think- 
ing is  found  in  these  outward  excursions,  by  means  of 
comparisons,  from  a  central  topic  into  the  concrete 
environment  and  into  the  more  distant  world  beyond. 

In  every  important  unit  of  study,  therefore,  we  must 
learn  to  set  up  a  strong  logical  series  of  sub-topics,  each 
of  which  is  a  smaller  center  of  organization.  In  such  a 
series,  each  sub-topic  holds  a  close  relation  to  the  topic 
that  precedes  and  to  that  which  follows.  This  requires 
a  masterly  grasp  of  the  sequence  of  thought,  stretching 
through  the  whole  length  of  the  unit  of  study,  as  we 
may  say,  longitudinally. 

To  this  we  may  add,  secondly,  the  cross-sectional 
thinking  illustrated  by  the  example  of  New  York.  To 
many  persons  this  second  mode  of  thought,  branching 
off  at  right  angles  from  the  main  line,  seems  to  be  a 
divergence  from  sound,  logical  thinking.  The  two 
modes  of  thought  are  in  fact  oppositional,  and  it  takes 
a  stronger  mental  effort  to  combine  them  properly  than 
to  follow  one  exclusively  or  chiefly.  Scholarly  thinkers 


INSTRUCTION  61 

sometimes  make  the  mistake  of  accepting  one  of  these 
as  predominant.  Besides,  teachers,  like  other  people, 
are  sluggish  and  indolent  in  their  thinking,  and  think 
in  too  narrow  circles.  Or  it  may  be  said  more  charitably 
that  people  follow  habits  of  thought,  and  the  more 
common  habit,  even  with  careful  thinkers,  is  that  of  a 
narrow  logical  sequence.  Many  people,  in  fact,  pride 
themselves  upon  a  clear  and  rigid  line  of  argumenta- 
tion like  that  illustrated  by  the  "Wonderful  One  Horse 
Shay."  But  no  fact  or  topic  is  comprehended  in  its 
meaning  by  following  a  single  important  relation  to 
the  next  topic.  The  important  principles  and  facts  are 
those  which  have  numerous  and  far-reaching  connec- 
tions. This  many-sidedness  of  relationship  is  what 
gives  them  their  importance.  In  this  sense  they  are 
central  topics  embodying  the  big,  comprehensive,  uni- 
fying principles  that  give  simple,  far-reaching  inter- 
pretations of  the  world. 

A  serious  fault  of  our  habits  of  study  is  the  fact  that 
we  have  too  many  things  to  learn,  and  but  little  time 
to  think,  that  is,  to  reflect  in  wider  circles  upon  these 
relations.  In  school-work  we  should  spend  at  least  half 
our  time  in  reflection.  What  matters  it  whether  we 
have  memorized  the  numerous  facts  and  details  cata- 
logued so  uninterestingly  in  our  books?  Rather,  let  us 
ask,  have  we  looked  into  the  meanings  and  significant 
relations  of  the  few  central  topics  most  deserving  of 
study?  Have  we  thought  out  our  topics  strongly  in  the 
two  directions  illustrated  above? 

Our  best  thinking  combines  these  two  divergent 


62    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

modes  of  thought,  the  steady  and  consistent  develop- 
ment of  the  main  line  of  mental  effort,  and  the  con- 
stant enrichment  of  this  central  idea  with  concrete 
illustrations  and  comparisons  drawn  from  the  side 
lines.  The  student  should  never  lose  sight  of  his  main 
line  of  thought,  nor  should  his  thinking  be  closely  con- 
fined to  this  single  strand.  The  tendency  to  continuity 
of  thought  should  be  balanced  by  an  equally  strong 
effort  to  find  a  larger  setting  for  the  main  thought  in  all 
its  fruitful  bearings  upon  the  world.  Otherwise  it  hangs 
in  isolation  without  proper  relation  to  complex  world 
realities.  These  two  opposing  thought  impulses  should 
be  brought  into  cooperation  in  a  manner  analogous  to 
the  operation  of  the  centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces 
which  combine  their  influence  in  such  a  way  as  to 
bring  the  earth  and  planets  into  their  steady  orbits. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  not  combining  these  op- 
posing tendencies  into  a  larger  unity,  three  forms  of 
error  come  to  light:  (1)  Some  persons  are  strong  and 
thorough  in  the  main  channels  of  thought,  but  they 
think  within  too  narrow  boundaries  and  fail  to  enjoy 
the  broader,  richer  interpretation  of  their  ideas.  Their 
thoughts  are  apt  to  hang  in  theoretical  isolation  be- 
cause they  are  not  connected  up  sufficiently  with  the 
world  of  realities.  (2)  Others  scatter  too  widely  in  their 
thought  relations  and  fail  to  organize  firmly  upon  the 
central  line  of  topics.  This  results  in  a  wandering  loose- 
ness and  promiscuousness  in  study.  The  materials  of 
knowledge  are  not  properly  knit  together  and  inter- 
preted clearly  in  the  light  of  important  vital  truths. 


INSTRUCTION  63 

Both  these  tendencies  are  one-sided  and  fail  to  har- 
monize the  opposing  principles. 

The  third  rather  common  fault  is  to  emphasize 
neither  central  organizing  ideas,  nor  correlations,  but 
to  memorize  a  multitude  of  facts  more  or  less  miscella- 
neous and  poorly  interpreted.  Our  overcrowded  course 
of  study  favors  this  third  tendency. 

It  requires  pronounced  organizing  ability  to  treat 
studies  with  adequate  appreciation  and  unification  of 
the  two  modes  of  thought.  Much  more  time  must  be 
given  to  reflective  thinking  if  we  are  to  form  habits  of 
tracing  out  these  antithetical  relations.  To  keep  the 
mind  in  balance  between  the  two  movements,  properly 
to  alternate  them  and  thus  to  weave  a  firmer  web  of 
knowledge,  is  a  great  achievement.  Gradually  to  form 
such  habits  of  thought  in  children,  both  modes  of 
thinking  should  be  cultivated  in  the  leading  branches 
of  knowledge. 

If  the  foregoing  argument  as  to  the  interplay  of  two 
divergent  but  necessarily  cooperating  thought  move- 
ments is  correct,  we  can  lay  down  a  basal  principle  of 
instruction  in  dealing  with  large  topics.  The  process  of 
working  out  a  large  topic  on  the  basis  of  a  fundamental 
idea  becomes  the  most  general  determining  principle  of 
method.  For  ourselves  we  believe  it  possible  to  demon- 
strate this  mode  of  treatment  of  large  topics  in  most 
of  the  important  school  studies,  namely,  in  history, 
natural  science,  language,  geography,  and  the  indus- 
trial arts  (i.e.,  construction  in  the  arts).  In  the  main, 
the  treatment  of  units  of  literature  (reading  and  gram- 


64    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

mar)  has  the  same  basis.  The  processes  in  arithmetic, 
like  that  of  long  division,  follow  a  similar  but  modified 
process. 

There  are  two  reasons,  perhaps,  why  this  mode  of 
treatment  of  large  topics  has  not  been  recognized  or 
more  generally  applied:  (1)  We  have  not  been  accus- 
tomed to  grant  important  ideas  and  principles  their 
proper  and  legitimate  place  in  furnishing  the  organiz- 
ing centers  and  trunk  lines  of  thought.  (2)  We  have 
not  seriously  attacked  the  problem  of  determining  the 
conditions  under  which  these  important  ideas  originate 
in  the  mind  and  develop  to  their  full  fruition.  How 
much  illustrative  and  descriptive  material  is  it  neces- 
sary to  group  around  such  an  idea  in  order  to  bring  it 
into  the  right  illumination?  How  much  more  of  com- 
parison and  amplification  of  this  idea  is  required  to 
show  the  range  of  its  application?  The  writers  on  gen- 
eral principles  of  education  stop  short  with  the  state- 
ment of  their  principles.  They  never  attempt  to  deal 
with  the  subject-matter  of  any  topic  in  science,  or  his- 
tory, or  geography,  so  as  to  furnish  an  answer  to  these 
two  great  questions.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  discov- 
ered that  these  are  two  very  important  questions,  which 
set  up  a  problem  far  more  difficult  to  solve  than  the 
problem  of  merely  stating  the  general  principles  as 
they  are  usually  propounded.  They  ought  to  demon- 
strate their  principles  concretely. 

In  selecting  and  organizing  the  varied  and  complex 
materials  that  belong  properly  in  the  treatment  of  a 
large  topic,  the  thinker  must  take  a  broad  survey  of 


INSTRUCTION  65 

the  main  line  of  thought,  properly  broken  up  into  its 
chief  segments.  At  the  same  time  he  must  think  out 
crosswise  along  the  side  lines,  and  gather  in  the  appro- 
priate concrete  material  which  alone  can  give  a  true 
setting  for  the  central  idea.  To  keep  these  two  neces- 
sary but  opposing  tendencies  of  thought  in  balance  is 
the  difficult  thing.  This  kind  of  organization  of  sub- 
ject-matter is  therefore  very  special  and  unusual. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  in  setting  up  this  standard 
of  organization  we  are  demanding  a  thoroughness  and 
richness  of  knowledge  which  few  teachers  at  present 
possess.  But  it  is  the  kind  of  knowledge  that  they 
ought  to  have  if  they  are  to  teach.  Nor  is  it  at  all  im- 
possible or  unreasonable  that  teachers  should  be  thus 
trained  in  the  professional  schools  for  the  preparation 
of  teachers. 

In  this  connection  a  convincing  argument  is  fur- 
nished in  favor  of  complete  and  rich  scholarship.  In 
fact,  for  teaching,  a  peculiar  kind  of  richness  and  reflec- 
tive quality  in  scholarship  is  required  which  even  our 
higher  schools  often  fail  to  furnish.  The  principles  and 
practical  maxims  of  pedagogy  are  helpless  unless  they 
are  supported  at  every  point  by  a  copious  and  well- 
organized  body  of  usable  knowledge.  Even  writers  on 
education  should  never  forget  that  their  theories,  be 
they  never  so  good,  need  to  be  backed  up  by  a  whole 
well-organized  army  of  knowledge  materials. 

The  following  treatment  of  the  Erie  Canal  illus- 
trates more  fully  the  interplay  of  these  two  thought 
movements  in  a  large  topic. 


66    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

THE   ERIE    CANAL 

Outline  of  topics 

1.  The  opening  up  of  central  New  York  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolution. 

2.  The  growth  of  the  canal  idea  and  arguments  in  its  favor. 

3.  Route  to  be  followed  by  the  proposed  canal,  size,  etc. 

4.  The  canal  construction  and  its  difficult  problems. 

5.  Completion  of  the  canal  and  the  celebration  that  fol- 
lowed. 

6.  Important  and  far-reaching  results. 

7.  Other  traffic  routes  across  the  mountains.   The  old  Na- 
tional Road.   Canals  and  portage  road  in  Pennsylvania. 

8.  Railroad  building  and  the  New  York  Central  Railroad. 

9.  First  enlargement  of  the  canal. 

10.  The  present  reconstruction  of  the  canal  as  a  barge-canal. 

11.  Comparison  with  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  and 
the  Ohio  canals. 

1.  Even  before  the  Revolution  people  had  thought  of  the 
possibility  of  opening  up  a  waterway  across  New  York,  from 
the  Hudson  to  the  Lakes,  but  nothing  could  be  done  in  the 
way  of  roads  or  canals  while  the  Indians  held  central  New 
York.  Sullivan's  expedition  into  the  Iroquois  country  during 
the  Revolution  (1779)  had  broken  up  the  powerful  Indian 
confederacy  which  for  two  centuries  or  more  had  controlled 
central  New  York. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  then,  white  settlers  were 
free  to  push  over  hills,  valleys,  lake  regions,  and  swamps  of 
central  New  York  as  far  as  Lake  Erie.  Along  this  line  from 
Albany  to  Buffalo  were  to  be  laid  out  the  roads  which  would 
connect  the  East  and  the  West;  for  along  this  route,  alone, 
there  were  no  hills  to  climb. 

After  the  Revolutionary  War  a  wagon-road  was  built 
across  the  country  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  but  it  was  a  long 
and  tedious  haul  over  bad  roads,  through  woods  and  swamps, 
so  that  it  cost  about  one  hundred  dollars  to  get  a  ton  of 
wares  from  New  York  to  Buffalo. 

2.  The  project  of  building  a  canal  from  Buffalo  to  Albany 
was  early  suggested.    Gouverneur  Morris  argued  that  as 


INSTRUCTION  67 

Lake  Erie  is  570  feet  higher  than  tidewater  at  Albany,  it 
would  be  possible  to  dig  a  channel  and  convey  a  stream  that 
would  carry  boats  directly  to  the  Hudson.  DeWitt  Clinton, 
afterward  governor,  was  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  such  a 
canal,  and  he,  with  others,  had  surveys  made  and  formed 
plans.  But  the  undertaking  was  too  difficult  and  expensive 
for  private  individuals.  Only  a  large  State  like  New  York 
could  supply  the  money  necessary  for  such  an  undertaking. 
Finally  DeWitt  Clinton  presented  the  matter  to  the  Legisla- 
ture of  New  York  in  1816.  Some  of  his  arguments  were  as 
follows:  — 

Such  a  canal  would  greatly  cheapen  the  transport  of  goods 
from  Buffalo  to  New  York.  This  would  make  New  York  City 
the  outlet  for  goods  coming  from  the  Lakes  and  the  Ohio 
country,  and  in  this  way  it  would  rapidly  grow  into  a  great 
city. 

Again,  New  York  State  was  fortunate  in  having  the  only 
route  between  the  East  and  West  where  there  were  no  moun- 
tains to  climb  as  in  Pennsylvania  and  other  States  farther 
south.  It  was  the  only  place  where  a  canal  could  be  built. 

The  shipment  of  goods  down  Lake  Ontario  and  the  St. 
Lawrence  would  only  injure  New  York  State,  and  besides, 
the  St.  Lawrence  was  blocked  with  ice  during  a  long  winter. 

The  country  through  which  the  canal  would  pass  was  a  rich 
and  fruitful  region,  and  with  a  good  canal  for  shipment  it 
would  settle  up  rapidly  and  become  very  prosperous. 

The  canal  itself  could  be  easily  supplied  with  water  from 
Lake  Erie,  and  the  boating  along  the  canal  would  be  much 
safer,  being  free  from  the  winds  and  storms  which  prevail  on 
the  Lakes  and  on  the  ocean. 

A  pair  of  horses  or  mules  could  haul  a  great  canal  boat 
loaded  with  goods  along  the  canal  at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles 
per  day,  and  that  would  be  very  cheap  and  rapid  compared 
with  any  other  kind  of  shipping. 

After  much  discussion  these  arguments  won  the  day,  and 
the  legislature  voted  to  undertake  the  construction  of  the 
canal  at  State  expense. 

3.  The  canal  was  to  be  dug  along  the  Mohawk  Valley,  then 
across  New  York  north  of  the  Finger  Lakes,  not  far  south  of 
Lake  Ontario,  to  Buffalo.  The  main  canal  was  divided  into 
three  sections,  the  western  part  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Seneca 


68    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

River,  the  middle  from  Seneca  River  to  Rome,  and  the  east- 
ern section  from  Rome  to  the  Hudson  at  Albany;  in  all,  360 
miles.  It  was  to  be  four  feet  deep,  forty  feet  wide  at  the  top, 
and  twenty-eight  feet  wide  at  the  bottom.  The  sloping  sides 
were  to  be  walled  with  stone. 

4.  The  first  contracts  for  digging  were  let  in  the  spring  of 
1817.  The  farmers  along  the  route  had  been  engaged  to  do 
the  work,  at  first  with  spades  and  wheelbarrows,  but  this  was 
too  slow,  so  scrapers  were  invented  to  be  used  with  teams  of 
oxen.  This  made  the  work  go  much  faster.  Money  was  scarce 
among  the  farmers,  and  they  were  glad  to  engage  in  the  work 
to  get  money  for  their  needs. 

A  number  of  serious  difficulties  hindered  the  progress  of  the 
work.  First  were  the  great  forests,  thick  and  tangled,  just 
west  of  Rome.  Trees  must  be  cut  down  and  stumps  pulled. 
The  ground  was  deeply  matted  with  roots.  A  stump-puller 
was  sent  from  England,  and  a  great  plow  with  two  yoke  of 
oxen  was  used  to  loosen  up  the  roots.  In  some  places  the 
canal  led  through  swamps,  and  hundreds  of  men  were  sick 
with  fever  and  ague.  Thus  for  a  while  near  the  Seneca  River 
the  work  almost  stopped.  Other  stretches  of  the  canal  had  to 
be  blasted  out  through  rock,  and  this  was  slow  and  laborious. 

Important  rivers  like  the  Genesee  had  to  be  crossed,  and 
this  was  a  serious  problem.  Great  massive  stone  arches  were 
built  across  the  valleys  and  streams,  and  stone  troughs  or 
aqueducts  were  built  upon  these,  which  formed  a  part  of  the 
canal.  The  rivers  then  could  pass  under  these  arches.  Stone 
had  to  be  hauled  for  building  these  arches  and  aqueducts. 

The  canal  had  to  be  built  at  several  levels,  on  account  of 
the  hilly  and  sloping  nature  of  the  land  in  places,  and  had  to 
pass  from  one  level  to  another,  say  ten  feet  higher  or  lower. 
At  these  places  stone  locks  had  to  be  built,  with  double  gates 
at  each  end,  and  constructed  long  and  wide  enough  to  let 
boats  pass  into  them  so  as  to  be  raised  or  lowered  as  the  water 
was  let  in  or  out. 

Work  was  going  on  in  all  these  sections  at  the  same  time. 
As  fast  as  any  considerable  part  of  the  canal  was  completed, 
the  water  was  let  in,  canal-boats  were  built,  and  goods 
shipped.  The  charges  on  these  shipments,  or  tolls,  counted  up 
rapidly  to  a  large  sum,  and  people  began  to  see  that  the 
canal,  when  finished,  would  be  very  profitable. 


INSTRUCTION  69 

5.  At  last  the  canal  in  all  its  parts  was  completed  in  1825, 
being  365  miles  long,  having  72  locks  and  many  stone  aque- 
ducts. It  crosses  the  Mohawk  River  twice.  Its  entire  cost 
was  $7,600,000. 

Of  course  the  completion  of  the  canal  was  celebrated  in 
Buffalo  and  New  York  and  at  all  the  towns  and  cities  be- 
tween. As  Governor  Clinton  and  a  party  of  distinguished 
guests  entered  the  canal  at  Buffalo  in  boats  to  travel  to  New 
York,  a  cannon  was  fired  off,  and  this  shot  was  followed  by  a 
series  of  cannon  distributed  along  the  whole  route  within 
hearing  distance  of  each  other.  In  this  way  the  news  was 
telegraphed  to  New  York.  All  along  the  route  they  were  re- 
ceived with  speeches,  feasts,  and  jollification,  and  at  New 
York,  two  kegs  of  water  from  Lake  Erie  were  poured  into  the 
New  York  Bay  to  signify  the  union  of  the  Lakes  with  the 
ocean.  It  was  really  a  great  event  in  American  history,  as 
the  products  of  the  West  could  find  easy  transport  to  New 
York  and  to  Europe  by  water. 

6.  Important  results  quickly  followed  the  completion  of 
the  canal.  On  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  1825,  the  cost 
of  freighting  a  ton  of  goods  from  Albany  to  Buffalo  fell  from 
$100  to  $6,  and  later  to  $3.  The  whole  farming  country  for 
miles  back  on  both  sides  of  the  canal  quickly  grew  into  a 
rich,  productive  region.  All  along  the  canal,  cities  sprang  up 
which  in  time  have  grown  into  large  and  populous  centers  of 
manufacturing.  Nearly  all  of  the  large  cities  of  New  York 
State  are  located  on  or  near  this  canal  or  the  Hudson  River. 
Smaller  canals  were  built  south  and  north  of  the  Erie  con- 
necting it  with  the  Lakes  and  greatly  increasing  the  trade. 
The  success  of  the  Erie  Canal  was  greater  than  even  its  friends 
had  expected.  The  tolls  from  1825  to  1834  amounted  to 
$8,500,000,  which  was  more  than  the  original  cost. 

From  the  Ohio  country  and  from  all  the  Great  Lakes 
region,  products  began  to  flow  in  toward  Buffalo  and  along 
the  canal  to  Albany  and  New  York.  The  Eastern  people 
desiring  to  move  West  found  it  easy  to  transport  their  family 
goods  by  the  canal  and  Lakes  to  Cleveland,  Detroit,  and 
Chicago,  and  to  move  out  to  farms  in  Blinois,  Indiana,  Mich- 
igan, etc. 

From  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal,  New  York  City  began 
to  grow  and  soon  outdistanced  all  other  cities  in  the  United 


70    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

States  in  wealth  and  population.  For  some  thirty  years  this 
canal  was  the  chief  highway  of  traffic  for  heavy  goods  be- 
tween the  East  and  the  West.  It  was  also  the  chief  mode  of 
travel  for  people  and  families  going  between  the  East  and  the 
West.  During  this  period  the  tolls  on  the  canal  brought  in  a 
large  revenue  to  the  State. 

7.  Cities,  like  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  on  the  eastern 
seaboard,  were  very  anxious  to  share  in  the  rich  commerce 
of  the  West.  Even  before  the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  had  constructed  the  old 
National  Road  from  Cumberland  on  the  Potomac,  across  the 
mountains  and  through  southwestern  Pennsylvania  to  Wheel- 
ing on  the  Ohio.  This  road  was  afterward  completed  across 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  to  St.  Louis,  and  cost  the  Govern- 
ment about  $7,000,000,  not  much  less  than  the  Erie  Canal. 
It  was  a  well-built  stone  road  as  far  as  Wheeling,  with  mas- 
sive stone  bridges,  and  to  this  day  is  a  good,  solid  highway. 
For  many  years  it  was  thronged  with  wagons  and  emigrants, 
and  their  stock  and  goods  moving  to  the  west,  into  the  Ohio 
Valley.  The  old  hostelries  along  the  road  are  yet  fine  old 
landmarks  of  the  day  when  Henry  Clay  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln traveled  over  this  road  by  coach  to  Washington. 

Philadelphia  sought  to  reach  the  West  by  still  another 
route.  Canals  were  built  by  the  State  along  the  Susque- 
hanna and  up  the  Juniata  to  the  edge  of  the  mountain-ridge 
between  Johnstown  and  Altoona.  It  was  intended  to  carry 
the  canal  through  this  mountain  barrier  by  a  tunnel.  An- 
other canal  connected  Johnstown  with  the  Allegheny  River 
and  Pittsburg.  But  the  tunneling  of  the  mountain  proved 
too  difficult,  and  a  portage  railroad  was  built  across  the 
mountain-ridge,  at  State  expense,  to  connect  the  two  canals. 
Another  railroad  was  built  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  from 
Philadelphia  to  the  Susquehanna,  and  thus  Philadelphia  was 
connected  from  tidewater  on  the  Delaware  with  the  Ohio  at 
Pittsburg.  This  became  a  great  route  of  traffic  between  the 
Ohio  country  and  Philadelphia. 

During  this  early  period  we  find  these  three  great  routes 
competing  for  the  traffic  of  the  West.  All  of  them  were  very 
important  in  the  development  of  the  West  and  in  bringing 
about  an  easier  interchange  of  products  between  the  East 
and  the  West. 


INSTRUCTION  71 

8  Between  1840  and  1850  railroads  were  projected  and 
built  across  the  Alleghanies  to  assist  in  handling  the  immense 
traffic  that  had  grown  up,  and  to  bring  about  a  much  quicker 
transit  of  goods  and  persons  over  long  distances.  It  was  only 
gradually  and  slowly  that  engineers  and  capitalists  learned 
how  to  build  and  manage  railroads.  At  first  they  were  very 
crude  and  clumsy.  Instead  of  engines  they  used  horses  and 
mules  to  draw  the  cars,  and  there  were  no  cross-ties  connect- 
ing the  two  rails.  There  were  no  stations  or  freight-houses, 
no  regular  times  for  trains  to  start,  no  headlights,  no  sleep- 
ing-cars, no  telegraph. 

The  New  York  Central  Railroad,  at  first  built  in  sections 
and  afterwards  combined  into  one  road,  ran  parallel  to  the 
Erie  Canal  between  Albany  and  Buffalo,  and  on  down  the 
Hudson  to  New  York.  When  this  railroad  connection  was 
completed,  goods  and  persons  could  be  transported  much 
more  rapidly,  and  a  large  share  of  the  trade  was  transferred 
to  the  railroad.  But  so  great  was  the  volume  of  trade  that 
both  canal  and  railroad  were  kept  busy.  Freight  rates  on  the 
canal  were  so  much  cheaper  for  heavy  produce  that  for  grain 
and  farm  products  it  was  much  better  to  use  the  canal.  The 
cheap  rates  on  the  canal  kept  down  the  railroad  rates. 

9.  In  the  early  years  the  canal  was  so  successful  that 
people  began  talking  of  enlarging  it.  By  making  it  deeper 
and  wider,  larger  canal-boats  could  be  used  and  transport 
would  be  cheaper.  In  1835  it  was  decided  to  enlarge  the 
canal,  making  it  seventy  feet  wide  at  the  top,  and  seven  feet 
deep,  and  at  the  same  time  larger  double  locks  were  to  be 
constructed.  This  was  a  costly  undertaking,  and  its  working 
out  was  not  completed  until  1862.  This  great  improvement 
cost  $15,000,000,  just  twice  the  original  cost  of  the  canal. 

The  competition  between  the  canal  owned  by  the  State 
and  the  railroads  owned  by  private  corporations  continued. 
The  New  York  Central  Railroad  built  double  tracks  across 
the  State  and  later  what  amounts  to  four  tracks,  so  vast  was 
the  volume  of  business  with  the  West.  Other  railroads  across 
New  York  to  Buffalo,  as  the  Lehigh  and  Lackawanna,  were 
built,  and  there  was  plenty  of  freight  for  all. 

10.  Finally  to  enable  the  Erie  Canal  to  compete  better 
with  the  railroads  for  the  Western  trade,  a  second  and  much 
greater  rebuilding  and  enlargement  of  the  canal  was  talked 


72    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

about.  The  great  railroad  systems  must  not  be  allowed  to 
gain  a  monopoly  of  trade  and  fix  freight  rates.  There  was  a 
hot  political  campaign  in  New  York  State  while  Roosevelt 
was  governor,  and  at  the  end  of  the  campaign,  it  was  decided 
by  a  large  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  State  to  spend 
$100,000,000  enlarging  the  Erie  Canal.  This  really  meant  the 
building  of  a  new  and  much  larger  canal. 

The  course  of  the  canal  was  considerably  changed;  the 
Mohawk  River  was  to  be  deepened  and  canalized  and  pools 
formed  by  means  of  locks.  The  canal  is  to  be  125  feet  wide 
at  the  top,  12  feet  deep,  and  be  able  to  float  barges  carrying 
1000  tons  of  freight.  Great  locks  are  to  be  built,  large  enough 
to  pass  two  of  these  barges  at  once.  Work  on  this  improve- 
ment has  now  been  in  progress  for  about  ten  years,  and  when 
completed  will  make  the  Erie  Canal  one  of  the  greatest 
canals  in  the  world,  and  will  not  only  furnish  a  cheap  trans- 
port of  Western  products  by  water  to  the  seaboard,  but  will 
compel  the  railroads  to  lower  their  rates. 

11.  A  comparison  of  the  road-building  and  canal-building 
across  Pennsylvania  to  connect  with  Pittsburg  and  Wheeling, 
and  across  New  York  to  connect  with  Buffalo,  will  make  it 
plain  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  spent  vast 
sums  of  money  in  the  effort  to  bring  about  easy  and  rapid 
communication  and  transport  between  the  Ohio  River  and 
Lake  States  on  the  one  side  and  the  Atlantic  seaboard  cities 
on  the  other.  Later  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  across 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio 
Canal  across  Virginia  and  West  Virginia  to  the  Ohio  Valley 
served  the  same  purpose.  The  great  traffic  routes  in  the 
United  States  have  been  built  from  east  to  west,  often  across 
the  mountains,  not  north  and  south  parallel  with  the  moun- 
tains. The  Welland  Canal  between  Lake  Erie  and  Lake 
Ontario  and  the  canals  around  the  Rapids  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence also  compete  with  the  New  York  route  and  carry 
much  freight  from  the  Great  Lakes  down  the  St.  Lawrence 
River. 

Just  as  in  the  East,  canals  were  built  across  New  York 
to  connect  with  the  Western  lakes,  so  in  Illinois  a  canal  was 
constructed  later,  in  1848,  from  Chicago  on  Lake  Michigan 
down  the  Illinois  River  so  as  to  unite  the  Mississippi  River 
and  the  Lakes.   Several  such  canals  were  also  built  across 


INSTRUCTION  73 

Ohio  to  connect  Lake  Erie  with  the  Ohio  River,  and  across 
Indiana  to  the  Wabash  River. 

In  recent  years  a  strong  effort  has  been  made  in  Illinois  to 
build  a  much  greater  canal  from  Chicago  and  down  the  Illi- 
nois, so  as  to  secure  great  barge  traffic  between  Chicago  and 
the  Gulf;  also  from  Pittsburg  down  the  Ohio  and  from  St. 
Paul  down  the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf.  But  while  the  United 
States  Government  has  spent  large  sums  in  the  improve- 
ment of  navigation  on  the  Ohio  and  along  the  Mississippi 
Rivers,  these  larger  schemes  have  not  yet  taken  effect. 

Conclusions  from  the  above  illustration :  — 

1.  The  two  diverging  lines  of  thought,  the  longitudinal 
and  the  outward-radiating,  are  clearly  marked.  The  main 
sub-topics  form  a  connected,  developing  series.  But  each 
sub-topic  expands  into  a  larger,  richer  treatment.  To  keep 
these  two  thought  movements  in  proper  balance  should  be 
the  aim  of  good  instruction. 

2.  In  this  study  of  the  Erie  Canal  an  idea  is  worked  out 
step  by  step  into  a  comprehensive  and  even  continental 
importance. 

3.  A  large  number  of  leading  geographical  facts  is  mas- 
tered as  to  their  names,  locations,  and  relative  importance; 
e.g.,  cities,  rivers,  States,  mountains,  lakes,  and  traffic 
routes. 

4.  The  interpretation  of  the  facts  in  the  light  of  a  basal  idea 
which  organizes  them  into  a  complex  unit  puts  a  rational 
connection  and  meaning  into  the  whole. 

5.  The  comparisons  furnish  the  basis  for  a  strong  and 
expanding  thought  movement,  surprisingly  rich  in  its  results. 

6.  As  the  subject  develops,  the  important  facts  range 
themselves  into  parallel  series  which  give  opportunity  for 
good  repetition  drills;  e.g.:  — 

New  York Albany Buffalo. 

Philadelphia Harrisburg Pittsburg. 

Baltimore Washington Wheeling. 

Norfolk Richmond Cincinnati. 

Again,  — 

Hudson  River .. .  Mohawk  River. .  Lake  Erie. 
Delaware  River..  Susquehanna  R. .  Ohio  River. 


74    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

Chesapeake  Bay.  Potomac  River. .  Ohio  River. 

Lake  Erie Welland  Canal. .   L.  Ontario  and 

St.  Lawrence  R. 

7.  The  growth  and  interpretation  of  this  geographical 
topic,  based  on  physical  features,  natural  products,  and  the 
demands  of  transport,  run  exactly  parallel  with  the  westward 
expansion  of  the  American  people,  the  most  fundamental  and 
important  movement  in  our  history.  History  and  geography 
could  not  be  better  combined. 


CHAPTER  IV 

DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT 

In  mastering  lessons,  by  children,  two  distinctly 
opposite  habits  of  thought  are  highly  prized.  One  is  the 
ability  to  appropriate  an  assigned  lesson,  as  in  history 
or  geography.  It  requires  concentration  of  thought 
upon  the  treatment  as  given  by  the  author  in  a  text- 
book or  as  presented  by  the  teacher.  An  attentive 
memory  to  grasp  and  retain  the  subject  in  the  form  and 
order  furnished  by  the  author  is  essential.  The  au- 
thor's organization,  point  of  view,  and  handling  of  the 
topic  are  to  be  mastered  and  reproduced  in  essentials. 
Many  excellent  teachers  feel  proud  of  students  who 
can  reproduce  a  lesson  or  series  of  lessons  showing  a 
thorough  mastery  of  the  organized  outline  and  detail 
of  the  author's  treatment.  Several  times  within  a  year 
I  have  heard  good  teachers  speak  with  enthusiasm  of 
those  students  whom  they  could  bring  to  this  standard 
of  excellence.  Such  a  lesson  in  content,  organization, 
and  form  may  be  called  a  dictation  (not  in  exact  verbal 
form,  but  in  the  essentials  of  thought  and  expression). 
The  characteristic  mental  act  of  pupils  in  such  lessons 
is  not  independent  thought,  but  a  mastery  in  conform- 
ity to  an  author's  ideas,  arrangement,  and  terminology. 

The  other  habit  referred  to  is  that  of  independent 
thinking,  of  free  individual  judgment  applied  to  sub- 
ject-matter.  In  arithmetic  and  algebra,  problems  are 


76    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

given  which  call  for  constructive  and  independent 
thought.  A  difficult  problem  in  arithmetic  may  require 
an  original  and  ingenious  combination  of  given  ele- 
ments to  point  out  a  solution,  and  it  may  also  require 
a  complex  figure  process  in  careful  reckoning.  Experi- 
ments in  physics  and  chemistry  require  some  degree  of 
originality  in  combining  elements  and  in  drawing  infer- 
ences. In  designing  constructive  problems  in  the  man- 
ual arts  there  is  a  wide,  open  field  for  originality  and 
invention.  The  designing  of  a  rowboat  of  the  simplest 
construction  is  a  problem  that  will  employ  a  boy's 
best  original  effort  and  its  execution  will  put  his  prac- 
tical ability  to  the  full  test.  In  composition  and  more 
elaborate  theme-writing,  the  independent,  original 
selection  and  organization  of  thought  materials  are 
placed  at  a  high  premium.  Self-reliant  thinking,  which 
is  unshackled  except  by  the  necessary  conditions  of 
thought,  is  the  desirable  thing.  Children  should  learn 
to  exercise  freedom  of  thought  and  the  broad  judgment 
that  is  necessary  to  ballast  it.  If  a  child  is  to  become  a 
robust  thinker,  it  will  come  to  him  only  through  robust 
experience  in  self-reliant  thinking. 

These  two  qualities  in  the  student  —  conformity  to 
dictated  modes  of  thought  and  freedom  of  judgment, 
or  the  very  spirit  of  freedom  in  thinking  —  seem  to 
exclude  one  another,  or  at  least  they  do  not  enter  easily 
into  close  companionship.  It  is  not  in  our  purpose  to 
undervalue  either  of  these  important  phases  of  mental 
power,  but  to  recommend  both  of  them  strongly,  and 
to  accept  each  at  its  full  face  value.  It  is  our  particular 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    77 

business  to  show  up  the  strong  side  of  each  of  these 
phases  of  mental  effort  and  then  to  make  clear  the 
possiblity  of  a  friendly  cooperation  between  them  in 
spite  of  their  seeming  antagonism. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case,  much  of  the  knowledge 
material  in  school  studies  and  also  its  organization 
must  be  arbitrarily  imposed  upon  children.  Language, 
for  example,  in  its  usual  forms  and  grammatical  rules, 
is  a  necessary  dictation,  based  upon  usage  and  conven- 
tion. A  child  cannot  be  permitted  to  invent  his  own 
word-forms,  nor  to  make  his  own  arbitrary  rules  of 
syntax.  Textbooks  in  grammar,  arithmetic,  and  his- 
tory are  under  the  necessity  of  giving  the  selection, 
order,  and,  in  part,  the  mode  of  treatment  of  topics. 
Nor  is  the  teacher  free  to  break  into  this  order  unless 
he  has  something  better  to  offer  which  he  in  turn  dic- 
tates to  his  pupils.  Our  alphabets,  our  methods  of 
notation  in  arithmetic,  our  decimal  scale,  and  our 
standard  measures  and  tables  are  pure  dictations. 
These,  like  spelling,  writing,  and  other  formal  modes  of 
expression,  have  taken  on  stereotyped  forms  and  must 
be  accepted  and  mastered  as  given.  Careful  require- 
ments and  repeated  drills  on  these  assigned  tasks  are 
unavoidable.  The  rigor  of  these  irksome  drills  and  the 
roughness  of  this  thorny  road  to  knowledge  have  been 
softened  somewhat  by  the  devices  of  instruction,  by 
making  forms  incidental  to  interesting  thought  exer- 
cises, and  by  a  more  systematic  organization  of  the 
formal  elements;  but  the  dictated  and  arbitrary  char- 
acter of  this  subject-matter  remains  much  the  same. 


78    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

.  On  the  other  hand,  freedom  of  thought  and  an  inde- 
pendent attitude  of  mind  toward  the  content  of  studies 
is  to  be  fostered  from  the  beginning  of  school  life.  Free- 
dom of  action,  which  we  discussed  in  the  preceding 
chapter  on  school  management,  is  no  more  important 
than  freedom  to  think.  An  open  mind,  that  looks  out 
upon  the  world  with  an  unbiased  and  even  critical 
judgment,  expresses  the  true  attitude  of  the  learner. 
This  frank  and  self-reliant  independence  of  spirit  can  be 
cultivated  in  every  study  and  in  nearly  every  lesson. 
This  kind  of  freedom  means  more  than  the  removal  of 
restraints  and  barriers,  so  as  to  let  the  child  loose  to 
disport  itself  in  free  play  and  free  thought  and  action, 
as  Rousseau  demanded.  The  gaining  of  intellectual 
and  moral  freedom  is  a  still  higher  achievement  which 
a  free,  self-reliant  spirit  wins  for  itself  through  struggle 
and  self-discipline.  Like  the  knight  of  old,  a  Roland  or 
a  Launcelot,  the  young  hero,  in  the  freedom  of  his  un- 
tried powers,  must  go  out  to  meet  hardship  and  com- 
bat, and  win  true  freedom  and  self-reliance  in  his  own 
strength.  The  school  is  the  place  to  give  a  child  partial 
freedom  and  wider  opportunity  to  gain  for  himself  a 
still  higher  kind  of  freedom.  The  school  purposely  sets 
problems  and  difficulties,  i.e.,  opportunities,  for  the 
child  to  struggle  for  the  development  of  self-reliant 
powers.  A  hard  problem  worked  out  through  construc- 
tive thinking  inspires  confidence  in  one's  own  resources. 
Obedience  to  required  forms  and  the  mastery  of  dic- 
tated material,  on  the  one  side,  freedom  of  thought  and 
self-reliant  effort  on  the  other,  —  we  may  appraise  the 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    79 

value  of  methods  of  teaching  by  their  power  to  develop 
and  to  combine  these  characteristic  antithetical  quali- 
ties. This  amounts  to  a  demand  for  a  combined  double 
standard  of  excellence.  When  we  have  once  deter- 
mined what  a  suitable  course  of  study  is,  with  the  selec- 
tion and  organization  of  materials  which  constitute  it, 
we  shall  find  that  the  mastery  and  assimilation  of  such 
a  course  by  boys  and  girls  is  based  upon  a  combined 
dictation  and  independent-thought  method.  If  at  the 
present  moment  we  should  take  stock  of  the  methods  in 
vogue  in  our  better  schools,  we  should  probably  find  a 
strong  predominance  of  dictation  methods.  If,  contra- 
riwise, we  should  take  council  of  our  writers  and  author- 
ities on  the  general  theory  of  education,  we  should 
find  a  strong  preferential  demand  for  freedom  of 
thought  in  the  instruction  of  children;  so  wide  apart 
are  theory  and  practice,  and  so  cock-sure  is  each  party, 
that  it  has  the  truth  on  its  own  side.  The  practitioners, 
with  their  dictated  work,  have  the  advantage,  how- 
ever, because  they  are  controlling,  managing,  and 
teaching  the  children,  while  it  is  doubtful  whether  the 
advocates  of  freedom  are  holding  their  own  even  in 
their  classrooms  and  with  their  own  students. 

On  the  one  side,  the  forces  of  conservatism  and  tra- 
dition, which  stand  squarely  for  a  dictated  education, 
are  powerfully  intrenched  in  courses  of  study,  in  text- 
books, and  in  long-established  habits  of  the  teaching 
body.  On  the  other  side,  an  instruction  that  empha- 
sizes independent  thought  in  children,  however  sound, 
is  out  of  harmony  with  prevailing  books  and  methods, 


80    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

is  reformatory  and  disturbing  in  its  tendencies,  and 
has  not  yet  demonstrated  its  ability  to  organize  a  ra- 
tional course  of  study.  In  fact,  the  proposal  to  develop 
children  into  freedom  and  independence  of  thought, 
even  in  a  moderate  and  reasonable  degree,  sets  up  a 
standard  which  is  exceedingly  difficult  of  attainment. 
Even  with  a  much  richer  and  better  organized  course 
of  study  than  we  have  at  present,  and  with  much  better 
trained  teachers,  the  proposed  standard  would  be  very 
high,  almost  ideal.  When  we  consider  that  even 
among  well-educated  people  the  faculty  for  free  and 
independent  thought  is  somewhat  unusual  and  remark- 
able, and  that  among  teachers  only  occasionally  do 
we  meet  that  peculiar  cast  of  mind  which  thinks  inde- 
pendently and  seems,  by  some  intuitive  gift,  to  awaken 
the  free  mental  energies  of  pupils,  we  may  not  be  sur- 
prised to  find  that  the  majority  of  teachers  travel  on  a 
lower  plain  and  not  on  the  uplands  of  independent 
thought. 

Yet  the  problem  of  harmonizing  these  opposing 
tendencies  is  one  we  as  teachers  are  called  upon  to 
solve.  It  will  remain  a  problem  to  our  successors  to  be 
solved  over  and  over  again  when  we  are  long  forgotten. 
The  practical  difficulties  of  the  present  situation  in  the 
schools  we  will  attempt  to  discuss  somewhat  further. 

Many  earnest  and  vigorous  teachers  limit  their  in- 
struction mainly  or  entirely  to  a  definitely  fixed  and 
organized  subject-matter,  and  to  exacting  drill  meth- 
ods in  reproducing  it.  Some  of  the  arguments  offered 
for  this  mode  of  procedure  are  as  follows:  (1)  such  exer- 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    81 

cises  are  excellent  mental  training  and  establish  good 
habits  of  study,  attentive  concentration,  mental  grasp, 
and  sustained  effort;  (2)  children  are  by  nature  imita- 
tive and  receptive  and  not  capable  of  much  originality 
in  thinking;  (3)  they  must  first  acquire  the  essential 
elements  of  every  subject  by  dictation  methods  before 
they  can  possess  the  materials  upon  which  to  exercise 
their  free  and  independent  judgment.  The  general 
presumption  at  the  basis  of  these  arguments  is  that 
boys  and  girls  do  not  rise  to  the  stage  of  self-reliance 
and  independent  thought  till  after  they  have  passed 
out  of  the  elementary  school  at  the  age  of  fourteen  or 
fifteen. 

This  conclusion,  if  true,  would  deliver  our  schools 
into  the  hands  of  the  drill-master.  Memory  exercises 
and  repetition  drills  would  dominate  instruction  as 
indeed  is  often  the  case.  On  this  basis,  the  course  of 
study  and  the  method  of  teaching  would  be  laid  down 
within  definite  and  narrow  limits.  The  processes  of 
instruction  would  be  simple,  mechanical,  and  perhaps 
easy  for  the  teacher. 

The  main  objection  to  all  this  from  the  advocates  of 
freedom  is  that  independence  and  self-activity  in 
thought  are  fundamental  necessities  to  a  child  from  the 
first  start  into  school.  This  is  a  basal  presupposition 
on  the  other  side  of  the  controversy.  Freedom  and 
rationality  in  thinking  have  their  beginnings  in  early 
child  life  and  require  a  steady  and  unbroken  cultiva- 
tion. A  free  outlook  and  a  fearless,  self-reliant  spirit  in 
facing  the  oncoming  experiences  of  life  should  be 


82    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

vouchsafed  to  every  child.  Such  a  spirit  is  cultivated 
by  cheerfully  throwing  the  doors  wide  open,  and  not 
by  a  narrow,  arbitrary  dictation  which  tends  by  itself 
to  suppress  spontaneity  and  freedom.  Good  reasons 
may  be  assigned  why  a  rigid  dictatorial  method  of 
learning  should  not  be  clamped  down  upon  the  spirits 
of  young  children.  It  is  like  a  nipping  frost  to  tender 
plants.  It  fails  even  to  get  strong  attention  in  primary 
classrooms,  —  a  first  necessity.  It  furnishes  no  suitable 
transition  from  the  free  play  and  spontaneous  activi- 
ties of  the  period  just  before  entering  school.  Such  dic- 
tated exercises  lay  a  heavy  burden  of  voluntary  atten- 
tion upon  children  at  a  too  early  period  of  their  mental 
development.  Such  an  arbitrary  instruction  usually 
pays  little  regard  to  a  child's  natural  interests  and  im- 
pulses for  action.  It  leaves  out  the  element  of  motive 
except  it  be  the  motive  of  fear.  Even  young  children 
like  to  initiate  and  carry  out  crude  efforts  at  construc- 
tion, drawing,  and  play,  and  this  enterprising  spirit 
should  have  free  scope.  Throughout  child  life  each 
hopeful  should  be  growing  in  the  power  of  intelligent 
self-determination,  with  frequent  opportunity  and 
encouragement  to  self-direction. 

This  bold  theory  of  self-activity  and  self-direction 
in  the  learning  processes  of  children  has  been  vigorously 
advocated  from  age  to  age  by  reformers  such  as  Base- 
dow, Rousseau,  Froebel,  Spencer,  Agassiz  and  John 
Dewey.  It  has  been  also  humorously  caricatured  and 
ridiculed  by  generation  after  generation  of  schoolmas- 
ters. In  recent  years,  it  has  been  applied  and  worked 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    83 

out  with  more  or  less  success  by  bold  and  capable 
teachers  who  are  not  afraid  to  try  experiments  and  to 
test  out  theories.  Young  children  are  found  to  learn 
best  when  allowed  a  large  measure  of  self-activity  in 
their  studious  efforts.  Story-telling  in  primary  grades, 
as  well  as  in  the  middle  grades,  with  its  dramatic 
scenes,  its  open  discussion  and  free  reproductions, 
impersonations,  etc.,  lies  mainly  in  the  realm  of  free- 
dom, far  removed  from  standard  forms  of  dictation. 
In  intermediate  and  grammar  grades  our  chief  means  of 
saving  instruction  from  hopeless  dullness  is  the  intro- 
duction of  more  liveliness  into  class  instruction  by 
setting  up  interesting  aims  for  discussion  and  debate: 
e.g.,  Was  Jefferson  justified  in  purchasing  Louisiana? 
Who  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  failure  of  Bur- 
goyne's  expedition?  Who  was  mainly  instrumental  in 
the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  colonies?  Why  did 
La  Salle  fail  in  his  plans? 

The  recent  introduction  of  more  vital  topics  with 
richer  materials  of  study  in  geography,  history,  and 
applied  science,  the  greater  freedom  for  working  out 
interesting  problems  and  for  collecting  source  mate- 
rials, products,  pictures,  and  outside  references,  have 
improved  instruction.  In  the  upper  grades,  no  kind  of 
spontaneous  interest  and  self-activity  is  quite  equal  to 
that  offered  by  a  somewhat  free  range  of  discussion  in 
developing  an  important  idea  which  progressively  or- 
ganizes rich  materials  of  thought  in  a  large  topic.  Under 
their  own  impulses  of  thought  the  topic  keeps  develop- 
ing into  wider  views  and  to  sharper  insight  into  broad 


84    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

world  relations.  The  Erie  Canal,  and  later  the  Panama 
Canal,  as  shown  up  in  their  extensive  national  and 
world  connections,  grow  steadily  in  interest,  and  in 
comprehensiveness,  and  in  demonstrated  practical 
thought  value. 

The  outcome  of  our  discussion  so  far,  in  our  effort 
to  present  both  sides  of  the  argument,  is  a  manifest 
dualism.  There  is  a  marked  tendency  to  fall  into  argu- 
ment and  controversy,  to  maintain  one  side  against  the 
other.  But  our  problem  is  not  simple  enough  to  be 
settled  by  a  conclusive  argument  on  one  side  or  the 
other.  Its  solution  calls  for  a  larger  conception  which 
accommodates  the  principle  of  freedom,  first,  to  the 
nature  and  organization  of  subject-matter  in  studies, 
and  second,  to  the  process  by  which  a  child  gradually 
develops  into  more  of  freedom  and  of  self-determina- 
tion. 

The  value  of  a  plan  or  method  of  teaching  subjects 
may  be  judged  in  large  part  by  its  tendency  to  combine 
these  two  modes  of  instruction,  namely,  dictation  and 
independent  thought.  Or  its  defect  may  lie  in  empha- 
sizing one  to  the  neglect  of  the  other.  Our  long-prevail- 
ing textbook  method,  for  example,  may  be  judged  by 
its  effect  in  cultivating  freedom  of  thought  or  conform- 
ity to  dictated  subject-matter.  Much,  of  course,  will 
depend  on  the  teacher,  his  method  of  assigning  lessons, 
his  way  of  using  the  book  in  the  class,  the  quality  of 
his  questions  and  tests,  and  his  tendency  to  discuss 
and  illustrate  the  content  of  the  book.  Speaking,  how- 
ever, in  general  terms,  a  textbook  treatment  of  a  topic 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    85 

may  be  described  as  a  pronounced  dictation  method, 
because  it  prescribes  with  full  authority  the  content 
and  form  of  the  lesson  which  is  to  be  appropriated  by 
memory  and  reason.  If  a  child  does  much  independent 
thinking  in  learning  a  textbook  lesson,  he  may  get  into 
trouble,  and,  what  is  more  serious,  he  may  get  the 
teacher  into  trouble. 

It  has  been  commonly  assumed  by  our  teachers  that 
a  child,  left  to  himself  to  master  a  lesson  from  a  book, 
is  cultivating  self-activity  and  self-reliance  in  thinking. 
The  teacher  sets  him  off  by  himself  to  learn  his  lesson 
by  his  own  effort.  But  memorizing  such  dictated  les- 
sons is  no  sure  proof  that  a  child  is  exercising  inde- 
pendent powers  of  thought.  His  real  independence  is 
often  shown  by  the  way  in  which  he  manages  to  dodge 
the  requirement.  If  he  does  submit  his  will  to  the 
teacher  and  learns  his  lesson,  he  is  very  apt  to  do  it  by 
a  habit  of  more  or  less  thoughtless  memorizing  of  words 
and  phrases.  There  is  no  certainty  that  he  understands 
what  he  learns  from  a  book.  Often  it  is  easier  to  mem- 
orize than  to  understand  a  passage,  for  our  textbooks, 
unfortunately,  contain  many  vague  generalities  which 
are  not  easily  understood  by  the  average  mind.  An- 
other criticism  of  our  textbooks,  as  commonly  used,  is 
that  they  give  neither  teacher  nor  pupil  any  experience 
in  the  original  organization  of  material,  and  not  much 
encouragement  to  judge  independently  the  relative 
worth  of  the  author's  facts  or  statements.  The  natural 
tendency,  therefore,  of  textbook  instruction  is  toward 
conformity  and  not  toward  independency  in  thinking. 


86    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

In  many  cases,  dependence  upon  the  book  is  complete, 
and  what  we  may  call  the  worship  of  the  book  becomes 
an  unconscious  habit.  A  textbook  is  a  great  help  to  a 
poorly  equipped  teacher,  but  it  may  become  a  cramping 
limitation  to  a  strong,  capable  teacher.  If  the  teacher 
could  regard  the  textbook  as  a  useful  outline,  which  it 
often  is,  to  be  modified  at  will,  enlarged  at  important 
centers  of  thought,  contracted  or  omitted  at  other 
points,  open  to  free  criticism  because  of  faulty  arrange- 
ment or  defect  in  method,  to  be  examined  or  even 
pulled  to  pieces  to  discover  its  real  merits,  it  might,  in 
the  hands  of  such  an  active-minded  teacher,  become  the 
basis  of  a  combination  method  which  would  develop 
the  sound  knowledge  and  thinking  powers  of  children. 
A  textbook  used  by  a  thoughtful  teacher  may  be  made 
the  ground  of  a  much  broader  treatment  of  the  subject 
involving  free  discussion  of  other  points  of  view,  criti- 
cism, and  individual  judgment. 

There  are  certain  serious  and  unavoidable  defects  in 
our  textbooks  which  can  be  compensated  for  only  by 
having  a  teacher  who  is  much  larger  than  the  book. 

(1)  The  book  cannot  give  an  adequate  treatment  of 
the  important  topics.  The  enlargement  of  topics  at 
such  central  points  must  fall  to  the  teacher. 

(2)  The  book  cannot  easily  set  up  problems  and  give 
the  fit  suggestion  to  their  progressive,  independent 
working-out.  The  teacher  can  do  this  through  discus- 
sion and  assignment. 

(3)  The  reflective  tracing-out  of  the  relations  in 
which  a  central  topic  stands  to  other  topics,  gained 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    87 

through  causal  connection,  comparisons  based  on 
likeness  and  contrast,  and  other  forms  of  association, 
—  this  considerate  balancing  up  and  organizing  of 
thought  material  can  be  done  very  inadequately  in  a 
textbook  treatment.  A  versatile,  thoughtful,  and 
ingenious  teacher  can  bring  these  things  to  pass  in  a 
classroom. 

We  cannot  fail  to  observe,  however,  that  these  de- 
fects appear  at  those  very  points  where  freedom  and 
independence  of  judgment  are  most  in  demand.  The 
average  use  of  textbooks  means  the  acceptance  of 
knowledge  on  authority  with  but  slight  effort  to  train 
children  to  freedom  of  judgment. 

The  great  merit  of  textbooks,  on  the  other  hand,  as 
used  by  good  instructors,  lies  in  the  fact  that  regular 
daily  tasks  can  be  assigned,  demanding  strong,  studi- 
ous effort,  throwing  complete  responsibility  upon  the 
pupils  and  furnishing  a  good  basis  of  knowledge  upon 
which  discussion  and  amplification  of  the  subject  can 
be  made  in  the  class  period.  A  teacher  who  knows  how 
to  open  up  a  textbook  lesson  by  a  good  assignment, 
who  not  only  gives  vigorous  tests  for  the  mastery  of 
the  assigned  lesson,  but  can  enlarge  and  enrich  the 
whole  topic  by  illustrations,  by  comparisons,  and  the 
discussion  of  problems  involved,  may  thus  combine  the 
content  of  the  text  with  a  strong  stimulation  to  inde- 
pendent thought.  An  illustration  of  this  mode  of 
treatment  is  attempted  at  the  close  of  this  chapter  in 
connection  with  Burgoyne's  invasion. 

A  lecture  method,  such  as  is  used  in  higher  schools 


88    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

and  colleges,  when  tested  by  our  combined  double 
standard  of  efficiency,  is  found  to  have  faults  that  are 
not  easily  remedied.  A  lecture  may  be  interesting  or 
dull :  in  either  case  it  is  a  dictation.  The  readings  that 
run  parallel  with  the  lectures  may  offer  a  good  student 
opportunity  for  independent  study.  The  real  problem 
for  the  teacher  and  student,  however,  is  that  of  learning 
how  to  organize  and  simplify  miscellaneous  and  scat- 
tered source  materials.  The  usual  tests  for  college  lec- 
tures and  readings  will  do  little  to  train  students  into 
these  superior  habits  of  organization.  But  just  at  this 
point  lies  the  possibility  for  training  students  into  orig- 
inality and  balanced  judgment  in  thinking.  The  usual 
college  tests  of  knowledge  are  confined  mainly  to  mem- 
ory reproductions  and  to  reasoning  within  somewhat 
narrow  limits  of  assigned  or  dictated  material.  Gradu- 
ate work,  with  its  original  themes  and  investigations, 
offers  much  better  training  of  independent  powers  after 
a  college  course  is  completed. 

Laboratory  methods  in  the  physical  and  biological 
sciences  are  designed  to  set  problems  to  test  the  re- 
sourcefulness and  self-dependence  of  students  in  work- 
ing out  solutions.  But  the  achievement  of  such  inde- 
pendence of  thought,  even  in  science  study,  is  not  an 
easily  secured  result.  The  laboratories  must  be  directed 
by  thoughtful  and  resourceful  teachers  just  as  in  other 
studies.  In  the  same  way,  the  industrial  arts,  with 
their  constructive  problems,  were  supposed  to  promote 
free  activity  and  self-directed  effort  in  planning  and 
executing  projects.   But  under  a  mechanical  teacher, 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    89 

the  manual  arts  drop  back  into  routine  processes  and 
blue-print  dictations  of  problems  as  formal  and  arbi- 
trary as  any  lessons  in  spelling,  writing,  or  grammar. 
We  are  forced  back  to  the  conclusion  that  it  requires  a 
vital  and  original  teacher  to  awaken  originality  and 
versatility  of  resource  in  pupils. 

An  oral-and-development  method  of  instruction  has 
been  growing  up  in  primary  and  intermediate  grades, 
and  in  departmental  work  of  grammar  schools,  which 
has  in  it  some  of  the  elements  of  power,  combined  with 
weaknesses  that  ought  to  be  eliminated.  An  oral 
method  of  instruction  calls  for  distinct  mastery  and 
control  of  subject-matter  by  the  teacher,  and  it  allows 
greater  flexibility  of  treatment  with  discussion,  ques- 
tion, criticism,  and  the  setting  of  problems.  Successful 
oral  instruction  imposes  upon  the  teacher,  at  the  start, 
several  high-grade  qualifications:  (1)  a  complete  and 
transparent  organization  of  the  subject-matter  that 
sets  main  features  into  prominence  and  groups  the 
secondary  facts  and  illustrations  around  these  central 
points;  (2)  quickness  in  interpreting  the  past  experi- 
ences, the  ideas  and  feelings  of  children;  (3)  discrimi- 
nating skill  in  formulating  and  adapting  questions;  (4) 
clearness  in  narrative  and  dramatic  presentation, 
board-sketching,  etc.;  (5)  versatility  and  breadth  in 
managing  discussion  so  as  to  hold  to  the  main  line  of 
argument  while  allowing  some  degree  of  freedom  to 
digress. 

Another  point,  which  is  coming  more  and  more  into 
view  as  our  methods  of  oral  instruction  develop  and 


90    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

improve,  is  the  problem-setting  idea  as  a  means  of 
securing  stronger,  more  independent  thought.  We  are 
familiar  with  the  problem  in  arithmetic  and  in  higher 
mathematics  as  a  means  of  forcing  some  degree  of 
original,  constructive  thinking.  The  science  labora- 
tory and  shop- work  in  the  arts  also  furnish  good  prob- 
lems, so  far  as  the  teacher  is  wise  in  selecting  and  using 
them.  As  history  and  geography  are  brought  down 
close  to  man's  needs  and  conditions,  in  the  past  and 
present,  nearly  every  topic  in  these  subjects  becomes  a 
vital  problem,  a  struggle  with  given  conditions  to 
achieve  certain  valuable  results.  The  Civil  War  was  a 
mighty  problem  for  Lincoln.  Bismarck's  masterly 
heroic  struggle  for  the  unification  of  Germany  was  his 
absorbing  problem,  the  mainspring  of  his  actions.  The 
old  National  Road  was  a  statesman's  problem.  Ful- 
ton's life  was  spent  in  heroic  and  successful  efforts  to 
solve  a  difficulty  in  steam  navigation.  Men  and  na- 
tions have  been  and  are  at  work  solving  problems,  and 
boys  and  girls  in  school  should  get  at  these  questions  as 
soon  as  they  have  the  brain  power  to  understand  and 
appreciate  their  meaning. 

The  problem-working  idea,  however,  followed  back 
to  its  source,  is  much  more  than  a  useful  device  of 
method  for  stimulating  the  best  kind  of  thinking,  val- 
uable as  it  may  be  to  that  end.  The  big  topics,  which, 
when  arranged  into  a  series,  constitute  the  backbone 
of  the  course  of  study  in  any  branch  of  knowledge, 
may  be  best  stated  in  the  form  of  problems.  In  each 
of  the  large  units  of  study  into  which  our  curriculum  is 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    91 

being  resolved,  for  the  purpose  of  simpler  organization, 
is  a  central  dominant  idea.  The  demonstration  and 
later  working-out  of  this  idea  is  the  problem  of  this 
unit  of  study.  Such  ideas  are  usually  worked  out  in  the 
face  of  difficulties,  obstructions,  and  complications.  In 
fact,  such  an  idea  usually  grows  and  develops  through 
a  series  of  minor  problems  which  are  the  logical  steps 
in  its  unfolding.  The  idea,  for  example,  of  the  Pajiama 
Canal  has  thus  developed  in  history  through/such  a 
series  of  obstacles.  One  by  one,  the  problems  have 
been  mastered  and  the  result  aimed  at,  the  content  of 
^JjljeCidea,  has  now  been  realized.  In  the  future,  it  will 
go  on  working  its  effects.  The  idea  of  utilizing  the 
power  of  steam  for  man's  uses  in  the  industries,  com- 
merce, etc.,  has  gone  on  developing  from  one  problem 
to  another  through  stationary  engines,  locomotives, 
ship-propelling  engines,  etc.,  till  it  has  transformed  the 
world.  Electrical  power  has  taken  a  similar  course 
through  problems.  The  Columbus  idea,  the  railroad 
idea,  the  cotton-producing  and  manufacturing  idea, 
the  Federal  Government  or  Union  idea,  the  public 
school  idea,  —  the  world  of  human  interests  has  been 
organizing  itself  along  the  lines  which  these  and  a  few 
other  great  ideas  have  laid  out  in  their  progressive 
development.  The  schoolmaster  should  seize  upon 
these  basal  ideas  upon  which  our  national,  social,  and 
industrial  life  has  been  organizing  itself,  and  make 
them  the  main  lines  of  movement  in  the  thought  work 
of  children.  Especially  so,  because  every  one  of  these 
ideas  has  worked  itself  out  concretely  and  dramati- 


92    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

cally  through  a  succession  of  problems,  —  bold,  enter- 
prising, often  heroic  problems,  which  appeal  to  the 
imagination  and  intelligence  of  children.  The  great 
man,  the  inventor,  the  discoverer,  the  philanthropist, 
the  real  statesman,  is  the  problem-solver,  the  man  who 
can  break  through  difficulties  and  obstructions  and 
lead  his  party  to  success  in  a  new  and  higher  realization 
of  some  aggressive  idea.  In  this  way  the  school  follows 
in  the  footsteps  of  life  and  leads  out  of  the  past  directly 
into  the  problems  of  the  present. 

At  this  point  we  reach  the  culmination  of  our  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  free,  self-reliant  thinking.  Such  inde- 
pendence of  thought  is  not  to  be  had  for  the  asking,  but 
only  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  a  wisely 
organized  course  of  study,  and  sagacious  teachers.  The 
development  of  children  toward  independency  in 
thinking  is  a  knotty  point  for  the  teacher.  An  unusual 
degree  of  shrewdness  and  ingenuity  is  required  for 
setting  children's  minds  to  working  independently. 
Unbiased  reflection  and  self-examination  may  surprise 
the  teacher  with  the  discovery  that  his  whole  method 
has  been  dictatorial,  although  he  may  have  been  ac- 
tively preaching  the  doctrine  of  self-activity.  It  is 
difficult  to  throw  children  into  the  water  and  to  force 
them  to  swim  for  themselves  —  without  drowning.  In 
other  words,  stimulating  children  to  self-activity  in 
thought  is  a  high  art.  It  is  a  process  not  easy  of  formu- 
lation, if  it  can  be  formulated  at  all.  The  mother  bird 
is  said  to  push  the  fledgling  out  of  the  nest  to  get  it  to 
try  its  wings.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  it  is  difficult 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    93 

to  make  rules  for  crossing  the  boundary  into  the  land 
of  freedom,  more  than  to  say,  "Get  up  and  go."  Yet 
we  must  keep  pushing  children  over  this  boundary  line 
and  watching  their  struggles  on  the  other  side. 

Such  a  vigorous  practical  thinker  as  George  Kersch- 
ensteiner,  of  Munich,  seems  to  despair  of  getting  inde- 
pendent effort  or  self -activity  in  thinking  through  the 
systematic  instruction  of  the  German  Volkschule.  Yet 
the  Volkschule  is  considered  by  many  the  best  in  the 
world,  in  our  time,  in  point  of  training  and  experience 
of  its  teachers,  and  in  the  organization  of  its  course  of 
study.  Our  problem,  therefore,  is  not  an  easy  one. 
The  demand  for  growing  freedom  and  independence  of 
thought  is  too  strong  to  be  rejected  or  set  aside.  It  lies 
in  the  normal  direction  of  the  development  of  human 
nature  during  the  period  of  childhood  and  youth.  But 
the  road  to  freedom  in  thinking  is  a  difficult  one  to 
travel,  and  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  direct  others  into 
it.  It  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  in 
the  world  of  mind,  and  such  things  are  never  gained 
without  serious  effort. 

Again,  this  road  to  freedom  lies  through  a  rigorous 
training  in  the  dictated  materials  of  knowledge  organ- 
ized into  an  established  course  of  study.  The  dictated 
materials  of  thought  are  to  be  so  handled  that  freedom 
to  think  shall  find  constantly  an  open  door  by  which 
to  emerge  into  a  larger  world.  The  teacher  should  keep 
these  two  things  in  mind  and  bring  them  into  coopera- 
tion. 

Such  advice  is  necessary,  for  the  schoolmaster  natu- 


94    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

rally  grows  into  a  dictatorial  attitude  in  teaching.  This 
is  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  originality  of  thought 
and  expression  are  often,  perhaps,  unconsciously  dis- 
couraged by  teachers.  We  have  frequently  heard  chil- 
dren reproved  by  teachers  for  giving  a  bright,  original 
answer  because  the  teacher  was  not  looking  for  an  orig- 
inal answer  and  did  not  recognize  it  when  offered.  Not 
seldom  the  child's  apt  reply  to  a  teacher's  question  is 
positively  rejected  because  the  teacher  has  a  stereo- 
typed phrase  in  mind  and  is  satisfied  with  nothing  else. 
In  some  cases  the  child's  answer  may  be  wholly  original 
and  more  appropriate  to  the  case.  In  a  second-grade 
class  the  teacher  was  asking  the  children  why  we  liked 
to  see  the  rain  in  spring-time.  One  practical  little  girl 
replied,  in  all  sincerity,  "Because  the  girls  can  catch 
rain-water  so  they  can  wash  their  hair."  But  the 
teacher  was  not  quick  enough  to  accept  this  answer  in 
good  faith. 

Again,  certain  easy  and  natural  objections  may  be 
offered  against  cultivating  a  marked  freedom  of  thought 
in  ordinary  schoolrooms.  The  spirit  of  freedom,  as  it 
manifests  itself  in  young  people,  is  not  always  agree- 
able. It  is  noisy  and  creates  possible  disturbance  and 
disorder.  It  upsets  the  established  routine  of  conven- 
tional thinking  and  acting.  The  teacher,  if  not  an  intel- 
lectual boss,  is  at  least  usually  conservative  and  holds 
to  trodden  paths.  His  chief  function  is  to  conserve  and 
hand  down  the  best  culture  of  the  past  rather  than  to 
quicken  independent  thought.  Culture,  in  the  main, 
takes  on  established  forms,  in  literature  even  an  artis- 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    95 

tic  and  highly  polished  form.  Even  science  has  been 
reduced  to  principles  and  laws  definitely  organized  and 
brought  to  exact  statement. 

But  freedom  of  thought,  in  an  almost  exaggerated 
form,  is  a  birthright  of  American  children.  They  have 
already  entered  upon  this  right  and  there  is  not  much 
prospect  of  curtailing  it.  The  real  freedom  toward 
which  children  should  be  trained  is  the  freedom  that 
comes  from  thinking  out  and  knowing  the  truth,  the 
freedom  to  acquire,  not  narrow  and  one-sided  views  or 
prejudices,  but  rather  complete  and  balanced  judg- 
ments, which  take  in  the  important  phases  of  a  subject 
and  understand  it  in  its  essential  bearings.  The  schools 
can  do  more  than  any  other  agency,  by  cultivating  bal- 
anced modes  of  thinking,  to  head  off  wild  and  reckless 
schemes  of  liberty,  so  as  to  make  freedom  rational  and 
sensible. 

From  this  point  of  view,  teachers  should  be  highly 
liberal  and  progressive  with  a  strong  conservative  bias, 
so  as  to  lead  children  constantly  and  steadily  into  larger 
and  safer  courses  of  thought. 

The  following  discussion  of  Burgoyne's  campaign 
may  suggest  some  of  the  problems  of  that  interesting 
undertaking,  which  may  give  the  children  a  chance  to 
study  the  situation  more  broadly,  weigh  the  evidence, 
and  form  their  own  independent  judgments :  — 

burgoyne's  campaign 

Burgoyne's  campaign  and  its  results  offer  a  series  of  lively 
problems  for  class  discussion.  Presupposing  that  the  class  is 
following  the  usual  textbook  treatment  of  this  topic,  its  im- 


96    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

portance  would  warrant  an  enlargement  of  the  class  discus- 
sion, involving  additional  reference  materials,  maps,  etc.  For 
the  use  of  the  teacher  and  as  special  reference  work  for  indi- 
vidual children  in  grammar  grades,  the  following  books  are 
suggested:  Fiske's  small  volume  on  The  War  of  Independ- 
ence, chapter  vi;  also,  vol.  I  of  Fiske's  American  Revolution, 
last  two  chapters;  S.  A.  Drake's  Bur goyne's  Invasion  of  1777, 
an  excellent  little  book  devoted  to  this  campaign;  Sloane's 
French  War  and  the  Revolution,  chapters  xxii,  xxiii. 

Outline  of  points 

1.  Burgoyne's  plan. 

2.  Find  out  the  reasons  why  Burgoyne's  remarkable  success 
in  the  first  stage  of  his  campaign  was  soon  changed  into  a 
series  of  disasters. 

3.  Disposition  and  character  of  British  generals:  failure  to 
cooperate. 

4.  Quarrels  among  American  generals:  cooperation. 

5.  Results  of  Burgoyne's  campaign  and  surrender. 

6.  Burgoyne's  campaign  compared  with  Cornwallis's  cam- 
paign and  surrender  at  Yorktown. 

1.  Burgoyne's  plan. 

The  general  plan  of  the  British  campaign  for  getting  pos- 
session of  New  York  along  the  line  of  Lake  Champlain  and 
the  Hudson  was  discussed  the  preceding  winter  in  London  by 
Burgoyne,  in  conference  with  the  Cabinet  and  military  au- 
thorities in  England,  including  Sir  George  Germaine  and  the 
king.  Burgoyne  had  been  with  the  English  army  fighting  in 
America  and  was  able  to  convince  the  king  and  his  counselors 
that  he  had  a  shrewd  plan  for  ending  the  war. 

Observe  more  closely,  by  studying  the  map,  what  this  plan 
was.  Three  British  armies  were  to  move  from  three  directions 
toward  Albany  and  combine  their  forces.  Burgoyne,  with  a 
strong  and  finely  equipped  army,  was  to  move  up  Lake 
Champlain,  Lord  Howe  with  a  still  more  powerful  force  (he 
had  30,000  men  at  New  York)  was  to  move  up  the  Hudson, 
and  St.  Leger  with  a  strong  force  of  British,  Canadians,  and 
Indians  was  to  march  from  Oswego  to  Fort  Stanwix  and 
down  the  Mohawk.  The  Tories,  under  the  lead  of  Sir  John 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    97 

Johnson  and  the  Iroquois  Indians,  were  supporting  the  Eng- 
lish. Sir  Guy  Carleton  remained  in  Canada  to  aid  Burgoyne 
with  supplies  and  reinforcements  from  that  quarter.  In  order 
to  make  the  campaign  successful  for  the  British,  three  differ- 
ent commanders,  widely  separated  and  unable  to  communi- 
cate easily  with  each  other,  must  move  promptly  toward  a 
central  point  near  Albany. 

There  were,  besides  the  three  strong  armies,  certain  other 
less  positive  advantages  that  Burgoyne  reckoned  on.  Five 
hundred  Indians  and  a  force  of  Canadian  militia  joined  his 
army  in  moving  up  Lake  Champlain.  The  large  number  of 
Tories  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  and  in  central  New  York  would 
render  him  material  aid.  Along  the  borders  of  Vermont  and 
Massachusetts,  he  expected  that  a  large  number  of  Tories 
would  flock  to  his  standard,  bringing  provisions  and  fighting 
strength.  In  fact,  Burgoyne  and  the  British  leaders  thought 
there  were  so  many  Tories  and  friends  of  England  on  their 
line  of  march  that  they  would  be,  as  it  were,  traveling  through 
a  friendly  country.  Again,  Burgoyne  felt  that  the  overwhelm- 
ing military  forces  which  were  brought  into  the  field  by  the 
English  would  break  down  all  opposition  and  cause  a  scatter- 
ing among  the  Americans.  What  prospect  was  there  now 
that  Burgoyne,  as  the  central  figure  in  the  campaign,  could 
bring  all  these  forces  into  cooperation  so  as  to  win  a  final 
success? 

But  all  these  things  made  up  only  half  of  Burgoyne's  prob- 
lem. What  was  the  situation  with  the  Americans  and  their 
armies?  What  were  they  likely  to  do?  St.  Clair  had  a  force 
of  two  or  three  thousand  at  Ticonderoga.  General  Schuyler 
had  a  small  army  at  Fort  Edward.  The  forts  of  the  Hudson 
were  held  by  the  American  troops.  Washington  had  an  army 
in  New  Jersey  watching  Howe  at  New  York.  Possibly  Wash- 
ington might  keep  Howe  busy  so  that  he  would  fail  to  send  a 
strong  force  to  aid  Burgoyne.  What  would  the  New  England 
militia  do  when  they  saw  Burgoyne's  army  moving  down 
toward  Albany,  e.g.,  Stark  and  the  Green  Mountain  boys? 
Even  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  there  were  German  and  other 
patriots  who  might  give  aid  in  the  defense  of  Fort  Stanwix. 
Even  a  part  of  the  Iroquois  tribes  were  friendly  to  the  Ameri- 
cans. Possibly  the  American  people  as  a  whole  were  far  more 
in  earnest  in  repelling  an  invading  army  than  Burgoyne  and 


98    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

his  friends  supposed.  The  Americans,  too,  were  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  rough  wilderness  through  which  the  British 
army  was  to  march.  The  English  were  not. 

It  was  an  easy  thing  for  Burgoyne  to  show  in  a  British 
drawing-room  how  this  campaign  could  be  worked  out  on 
paper,  but  when  his  army  got  into  the  woods  and  swamps 
between  Lake  Champlain  and  Fort  Edward,  would  it  work 
out  so  easily?  Burgoyne's  campaign  was  a  problem  of  unu- 
sual complexity  and  showed  up  various  unforeseen  difficul- 
ties that  arise  in  an  extended  series  of  military  operations. 

2.  As  Burgoyne's  splendidly  equipped  army  came  sweep- 
ing up  Lake  Champlain  it  carried  everything  before  it;  cap- 
tured Ticonderoga,  and  scattered  the  American  forces  in 
several  directions.  This  was  followed  by  a  series  of  equally 
remarkable  reverses. 

What  mistakes  did  Burgoyne  make  following  the  capture 
of  Ticonderoga?  Could  he  have  avoided  these  mistakes? 
Was  Burgoyne  responsible  for  the  defeat  at  Bennington?  At 
Fort  Stanwix?  Did  the  Indian  allies  of  Burgoyne  prove  of 
any  assistance  or  advantage  to  him?  Why?  After  Lincoln 
came  in  behind  Burgoyne's  army  and  broke  up  his  communi- 
cations and  cut  off  his  supplies,  can  you  think  of  any  way  by 
which  Burgoyne  could  have  saved  his  army? 

If  Sir  William  Howe,  with  a  powerful  army,  had  moved 
promptly  up  the  Hudson,  could  he  have  saved  Burgoyne's 
army  from  destruction?  Show  in  what  ways  and  to  what  ex- 
tent Washington  was  responsible  for  the  final  defeat  and  cap- 
ture of  Burgoyne's  army.  In  how  many  directions  had  Bur- 
goyne's expectations  been  disappointed  and  his  combinations 
broken  up? 

3.  An  extensive  campaign  like  that  of  Burgoyne  furnishes 
a  remarkable  study  of  human  nature  as  exhibited  by  the 
generals. 

Burgoyne's  defeat  and  surrender  were  made  a  matter  of 
investigation  by  the  British  Parliament.  The  British  Cabi- 
net tried  to  throw  the  blame  for  the  defeat  upon  Burgoyne, 
but  an  inquiry  in  the  House  of  Commons  brought  out  the 
fact  that  Lord  George  Germaine,  at  the  head  of  the  British 
War  Office  in  England,  had  failed  to  send  the  positive  order 
to  General  Howe  to  move  up  the  Hudson  to  aid  Burgoyne. 
So,  being  left  to  his  own  judgment,  Howe  sailed  away  to  the 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    99 

Chesapeake  and  thus  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  give  aid 
to  Burgoyne  at  the  critical  moment.  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  who 
commanded  the  British  forces  in  Canada,  failed  to  send 
troops  to  man  Ticonderoga,  so  that  Burgoyne  was  compelled 
to  detach  a  thousand  of  his  own  army  to  hold  that  place.  St. 
Leger's  expedition  was  a  disastrous  failure,  as  was  also  the 
movement  against  Bennington.  The  Indians  also  deserted 
him.  The  British  plan  for  cooperation  had  broken  down  at 
every  point,  because  of  lack  of  definite  orders  or  of  inefficiency 
or  jealousy  of  the  commanders.  How  would  you  distribute 
the  blame  for  the  failure  of  Burgoyne's  campaign? 

4.  Mistakes  and  quarrels  among  the  American  generals. 

Stark,  having  refused  to  obey  the  orders  of  General  Schuy- 
ler, planned  the  battle  of  Bennington  according  to  his  own 
notion,  and  won  a  brilliant  success.  Congress  had  blundered 
in  appointing  Gates,  a  poor  general,  to  succeed  Schuyler,  a 
good  one.  Arnold  quarreled  with  Gates,  and  plunged  into 
the  battle  of  Saratoga  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  his  superior. 
But  in  spite  of  these  disagreements  the  American  generals 
had  cooperated  successfully  in  every  important  movement. 
Washington,  although  at  a  great  distance  from  the  scene  of 
action,  and  confronted  by  an  army  twice  as  large  as  his  own, 
had  greatly  aided  the  other  American  generals,  not  only  with 
advice  and  the  influence  of  his  authority,  but  also  with  some 
of  his  best  generals  and  troops.  He  sent  Arnold  and  the  dar- 
ing Morgan  with  five  hundred  picked  men.  It  may  be  said 
that  at  nearly  every  point,  while  the  British  generals  had 
blundered  and  failed  to  cooperate,  the  American  generals, 
on  the  contrary,  had  shown  skill  and  good  judgment  and 
cooperation. 

5.  Observe  more  closely  the  somewhat  unexpected  results 
that  followed  from  the  capture  of  the  British  army  by  the 
Americans.  The  Americans  were  naturally  jubilant.  They 
had  demonstrated  their  power  to  do  great  things.  Even  the 
militia  could  fight  or  whip  veterans,  whether  from  Germany 
or  England.  It  raised  the  spirit  of  the  young  nation  and  made 
the  people  confident  that  they  could  win  independence. 
What  was  the  reception  of  this  news  in  England?  Parliament 
met  in  profound  gloom.  The  leader  of  the  Tory  party,  Lord 
North,  turned  a  complete  political  somersault  in  full  view  of 
the  world,  introducing  a  bill  to  grant  all  demands  originally 


100    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

made  by  the  Americans,  and  giving  up  forever  the  right  of 
Parliament  to  tax  the  Americans.  France  had  been  watching 
and  waiting  to  see  what  America  could  do  single-handed 
against  the  power  of  England.  Franklin,  our  shrewd  diplo- 
mat, did  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  this  situation.  What 
other  motives  influenced  France  to  join  with  America  in  a 
close  league  of  friendship  at  this  time?  War  was  declared 
between  France  and  England.  Spain  soon  followed  France, 
and  Holland  was  drawn  in  later.  What  would  naturally  be 
the  outcome  of  this  powerful  combination  of  European  states 
against  England?  Even  Prussia  and  Russia  showed  an  un- 
friendly attitude  toward  England,  and  refused  to  allow  Ger- 
man troops  to  be  sent  to  America. 

Why  should  a  battle  between  small  armies  in  the  back- 
woods of  America  produce  such  far-reaching  influence  upon 
the  politics  of  the  great  nations  of  the  world? 

6.  Burgoyne's  campaign,  in  several  important  features, 
may  be  brought  into  comparison,  later  in  the  history  study, 
with  the  second  great  military  campaign  of  the  Revolution, 
ending  in  Cornwallis's  surrender  and  the  virtual  conclusion 
of  the  war. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  campaign  how  does  the  battle  of 
Camden  resemble  Burgoyne's  capture  of  Ticonderoga?  What 
striking  similarity  is  there  between  the  battle  of  King's 
Mountain  and  the  battle  of  Bennington?  The  battle  of 
Cowpens  was  also  a  reverse  for  Cornwallis  that  upset  his 
plans. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Gates,  the  victor  at  Saratoga, 
suffered  at  Camden  the  worst  defeat  in  the  Southern  cam- 
paign, changing,  they  said,  his  Northern  laurels  into  South- 
ern willows. 

In  what  respects  do  the  events  leading  to  the  surrender  of 
Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  resemble  the  events  of  Burgoyne's 
campaign  and  surrender? 

Cornwallis  moved  down  to  the  coast  at  Yorktown  to  coop- 
erate with  the  British  fleet  and  to  secure  aid  from  New  York. 
Washington,  on  the  other  hand,  by  a  wide-reaching  combin- 
ation of  his  own  army  with  the  French  troops  under  Rocham- 
beau,  with  the  French  fleet  under  De  Grasse  and  with  La- 
fayette's army  in  Virginia,  all  brought  together  at  one  time, 
to  the  surprise  of  his  enemies  cooped  up  the  British  army  at 


DICTATION  AND  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT    101 

Yorktown  and  forced  its  surrender.  The  English  had  tried  to 
make  a  combination  and  failed.  Washington,  by  cooperating 
successfully  with  widely  separated  forces,  brought  the  war 
to  an  end.  In  fact,  this  ability  of  Washington  to  work  out  suc- 
cessfully this  grand  scheme  of  cooperation  of  widely  sepa- 
rated forces  marks  his  special  genius  as  a  commander. 

In  both  of  the  great  campaigns  of  the  Revolution,  there- 
fore, final  and  overwhelming  success  was  won  by  the  Ameri- 
cans through  cooperation,  and  disaster  fell  upon  British 
arms  because  of  their  failure  to  cooperate. 

A  comparison  of  these  campaigns  on  the  basis  of  the  study . 
of  the  maps,  showing  the  location  and  movements  of  armies, 
the  effects  of  battles,  and  the  cooperating  plans,  enables  the 
children  to  form  their  own  judgments  of  the  campaigns  and 
their  leaders. 


CHAPTER  V 

HOW  TO  GET  SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE 

Independent  thinking  and  self-reliant  effort  are  set 
forth,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  as  first-class  achieve- 
ments in  study.  So  important  are  these  qualities  in  the 
student  that  we  must  hunt  out  the  means  of  achieving 
them.  An  analysis  and  discussion  of  two  other  forms 
of  contradiction  may  put  into  our  hands  just  the  means 
we  require  for  developing  these  superior  mental  quali- 
ties. The  first  falls  under  the  heading,  "Help  and  Self- 
Help,"  the  second  has  the  title,  "Interest  and  Effort." 

I.   HELP   AND   SELF-HELP 

It  is  usually  regarded  as  the  peculiar  function  of  the 
teacher  to  help  children  in  their  immature  efforts  at 
learning.  Older  pupils,  and  even  adults  who  keep  up 
their  studies,  require  guidance  and  assistance  in  their 
thinking.  As  a  little  child,  learning  to  walk,  needs  the 
encouragement  and  timely  help  of  parents,  so  it  is, 
more  or  less,  with  all  classes  of  pupils  in  their  studies. 
Otherwise,  we  could  dispense  with  the  costly  luxury  of 
the  teacher.  Every  day,  in  the  school,  children  are 
coming  face  to  face  with  new  and  untried  problems, 
things  they  have  not  studied  before.  The  school  inten- 
tionally puts  these  difficulties  in  their  path  day  by  day, 
and  then  leads  them  to  the  attack.  But  textbooks  are 
not  so  carefully  graded  that  children  can  be  left  to  their 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         103 

own  resources  in  their  use.  In  the  assignment  of  the 
lesson  the  teacher  will  foresee  the  difficulty  and  give 
special  direction  to  effort.  In  a  sixth-grade  reading- 
lesson  on  Rip  Van  Winkle,  he  may  put  a  list  of  the  un- 
usual words  on  the  blackboard  and  give  a  preliminary 
drill  on  their  pronunciation  and  meaning.  The  awk- 
ward and  blundering  attempts  of  children  can  be  fore- 
stalled and  their  energy  poured  into  right  channels. 
Misdirected  effort  in  children  produces  discouragement 
and  friction  and  leads  to  a  feeling  of  antagonism  and 
repulsion  to  studies.  Slow  pupils,  and  even  smart  ones, 
become  discouraged  and  moody.  A  teacher  of  unusual 
mental  strength  and  versatility  remarked  to  me  that, 
as  a  boy  in  school,  he  was  completely  discouraged  by 
being  plunged  into  a  subject  that  was  too  difficult,  and 
he  considered  seriously  the  abandonment  of  his  studies. 
It  is  the  business  of  the  teacher  to  prevent  these  de- 
pressing situations,  to  keep  up  the  spirit  of  children  by 
throwing  light  upon  the  road  to  be  traversed. 

Strewn  all  along  the  pathway  of  the  school  course 
are  children  who  do  not  know  how  to  study.  They  have 
mental  strength,  but  they  know  not  how  to  use  it.  They 
have  not,  in  some  cases,  learned  how  to  pay  attention, 
how  to  concentrate  their  mental  energy.  Much  less 
have  they  learned  how  to  see  relations,  to  help  them- 
selves by  mental  devices,  to  think.  Much  time  is 
wasted  by  letting  them  flounder  in  their  awkward, 
helpless  ways.  The  teacher  should  be  an  expert  in  pre- 
venting and  curing  mental  awkwardness.  Many  chil- 
dren are  mental  stutterers.     They  require  a  kindly, 


104    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

helpful,  patient  teacher  to  relieve  their  nervous  strain 
and  set  their  thought  free.  Socrates  claimed  that  he 
could  not  teach  people  anything  directly :  he  was  only 
a  helper:  he  could  assist  them  in  avoiding  mistakes,  in 
escaping  pitfalls:  he  was  only  a  more  thoughtful  and 
prudent  guide  to  his  disciples.  By  means  of  keen  ques- 
tions, illustrations,  supposed  arguments,  and  cutting 
irony,  he  could  put  people's  thoughts  into  motion.  His 
chief  function,  it  seems,  was  to  get  people  to  use  their 
minds,  to  stand  alone,  and,  little  by  little,  to  walk 
mentally  on  their  own  feet.  Such  was  his  success  in  his 
own  peculiar  process  of  helping  people  to  learn  how  to 
think  that  he  stands  almost  without  a  parallel  among 
teachers. 

The  willingness  to  be  helpful  to  children  expresses 
the  true  spirit  and  quality  of  the  teacher.  It  is  the 
natural  parental  attitude  toward  those  who  need  sym- 
pathy and  guidance.  In  the  long  pathway  from  infancy 
through  childhood  and  youth  to  maturity,  a  child 
should  be  well  guided,  he  should  be  mentally  and  mor- 
ally well  nurtured.  This  is  a  work  of  kindly,  intelligent 
devotion  to  others.  To  be  wisely  helpful  to  children  as 
they  grow  is  to  confer  upon  them  unselfishly  the  best 
gifts  that  human  beings  may  bestow.  Teachers  like 
Pestalozzi,  David  Livingstone,  Arnold  of  Rugby, 
Froebel,  Vittorino  da  Feltre,  and  Paul  the  Apostle  re- 
present this  highest  kind  of  service.  It  involves  far  more 
than  intellectual  training.  Especially  in  their  moral 
growth,  children  halt  and  stumble.  They  need  friendly 
and  helpful  guidance.   A  kind-hearted  sympathy  and 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         105 

even  parental  solicitude  are  alone  adequate  to  supply 
the  necessities  of  human  nature  as  it  struggles  forward. 
On  the  other  hand,  some  of  our  wise,  oracular  friends 
tell  us  that  we  help  children  too  much.  Like  young 
mothers  with  their  infants,  we  are  over-eager  and  too 
solicitous  to  run  to  their  aid.  They  do  not  need  our 
help.  They  are  much  better  off  without  it.  They  would 
better  stand  alone,  or,  if  need  be,  fall,  rather  than  de- 
pend so  much  upon  support.  We  stand  close  behind 
and  bolster  them  up  so  constantly  in  their  trials  that 
they  lose  the  power  of  self-help.  They  are  being  helped 
into  helplessness,  as  Colonel  Parker  used  to  say.  We 
grade  up  the  valleys  and  we  level  down  the  hills  till 
there  are  no  steep  grades  to  climb.  Our  textbooks  are 
graded  with  painstaking  care.  The  skillful  teacher 
moves  in  between  the  textbook  lessons  and  smooths 
out  the  intervening  rough  places.  To  complete  the 
process  of  helping,  the  parents  at  home  work  out  the 
problems  for  the  children  (sometimes,  fortunately,  in 
the  wrong  way).  This  over-helpful  spirit  easily  runs  to 
extremes.  The  more  progressive  and  up-to-date  the 
school,  the  more  experienced  and  high-priced  the 
teacher,  the  more  complete  the  equipment,  the  more 
danger,  perhaps,  that  children  will  lose  in  self-reliance, 
in  native,  independent  strength.  We  should  always  be 
on  our  guard  against  helping  too  much.  In  some  of  our 
so-called  best  schools,  we  have  such  a  coddling  tender- 
ness for  even  older  children  that  their  mental  anatomy 
becomes  soft  and  flabby.  A  strapping  boy  of  fourteen 
cannot  work  the  simplest  problem  in  percentage  with- 


106    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

out  help.  He  is  seized  with  a  fit  of  the  "can'ts."  A 
point-blank  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  to  help 
such  a  boy  is  the  best  medicine  in  the  whole  knapsack. 
Such  luckless  boys  and  girls  require  to  be  jolted.  They 
need  a  curry-comb  rather  than  a  soft  sponge.  The  old 
log  schoolhouse,  with  the  older  boys  sitting  outdoors  on 
a  log  working  out  their  sums  without  help  or  interfer- 
ence from  the  teacher,  is  much  better  than  our  over- 
helpful  contrivances.  We  have  n't  any  good  use  for 
mental  mollycoddles. 

How  shall  children  be  trained  to  meet  difficulties, 
relying  upon  their  own  resources?  Not  by  perpetual 
help,  but  by  a  perpetual  avoidance,  if  possible,  of  giv- 
ing needless  help.  Every  study,  well  arranged,  should 
supply  a  series  of  problems,  so  ordered  that  a  child  of 
normal  ability  can  work  them  out  with  little  help.  Let 
not  the  teacher  spoil  this  well-arranged  program  by 
intruding  his  kind  offices  at  every  point.  The  children 
themselves  should  be  trained  to  resent  this  kind  of  help. 
They  should  take  pride  in  helping  themselves.  Such 
injudicious  helping  is  a  blunder  that  spoils  "the  best 
laid  schemes  o'  mice  and  men."  When  a  teacher  is  bent 
on  this  sort  of  mischief  there  is  no  remedy  for  it  except 
to  get  another  and  better  teacher. 

A  nine-year-old  girl  had  acquired  this  habit  of  de- 
pendence. She  and  the  teacher  were  close  friends.  The 
latter  was  always  at  hand  to  help  the  girl  in  her  diffi- 
culties. Soon  it  was  observed  that  in  class  instruction 
the  girl  copied  her  problems  from  other  children  at  the 
board.    She  was  developing  a  decided  deficiency  in 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         107 

arithmetic,  not  from  lack  of  ability,  but  from  too  much 
help.  Under  another  teacher  she  overcame  this  weak- 
ness and  developed  self-reliance.  In  such  cases  the 
teacher  should  not  be  too  friendly  and  accommodat- 
ing. He  should  withdraw  his  favors  and  keep  aloof.  It 
is  his  function,  as  much  as  possible,  to  make  himself 
unnecessary,  to  encourage  and  even  require  children 
to  do  their  own  tasks,  with  as  little  assistance  as  may  be. 
Not  how  much  can  the  teacher  help,  but  how  much  can 
the  children  do  without  help,  is  the  important  question. 
The  teacher  with  his  abundant  knowledge  and  inter- 
est in  the  subject  is  tempted  to  pour  out  his  informa- 
tion liberally  and  show  up  its  important  relations  and 
meanings.  Students  also  enjoy  such  a  feast  and  respond 
to  the  enthusiasm  and  enlarged  views  of  a  wide-awake 
teacher.  Such  interesting  episodes  in  class  instruction 
are  extremely  valuable  in  keeping  up  the  class  spirit 
and  in  maintaining  a  strong  interest.  But  the  zeal  of 
the  instructor  for  exploiting  his  own  views  should  not 
monopolize  the  class  period  to  such  a  degree  that  stu- 
dents lose  the  opportunity  for  full  and  adequate  ex- 
pression of  their  ideas  in  mastering  and  organizing  the 
materials.  Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  the  student's 
own  independent  effort  to  comprehend  and  fitly  express 
the  content  of  the  lesson.  The  more  this  obligation  is 
thrown  back  upon  him,  the  more  he  accomplishes  it  by 
his  own  unaided  resources,  the  more  valuable  are  the 
results.  This  doctrine  of  self-help  applies  to  all  sorts  of 
studies  and  to  many  phases  of  instruction.  In  the  very 
first  primary  grade,  we  have  some  of  the  strong  demon- 


108    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

strations  of  this  spirit  of  self-reliance,  this  willingness 
to  plunge  into  a  task  to  master  it  in  full  confidence  in 
one's  own  power.  This  occurs,  for  example,  in  the 
phonic  interpretation  of  new  words  in  reading-lessons. 
As  we  advance  in  the  grades,  this  confident  self-reliance 
should  steadily  increase,  so  that  boys  and  girls  grow 
more  resolute  in  meeting  their  later  tasks  and  difficul- 
ties. The  failure  to  accomplish  this  is  itself  a  severe 
criticism  of  our  system. 

From  what  has  been  said  before  about  the  teacher  as 
a  helper,  we  hardly  need  to  affirm  that  this  principle  of 
self-help,  alone,  is  wholly  inadequate  to  govern  the 
teacher's  method.  He  who  simply  makes  a  flat  refusal 
to  help  children  in  their  difficulties  and  struggles  is  too 
crude  and  undiscriminating  to  serve  as  a  teacher. 

We  have,  then,  two  evenly  balanced,  almost  contra- 
dictory statements  as  follows :  (1)  The  teacher  is  in  his 
very  function  and  nature  an  ever-present  helper.  (2) 
The  true  teacher  is  ever  on  the  alert  to  avoid  giving 
help.  He  is  perpetually  seeking  means  of  throwing  the 
burden  of  effort  back  upon  the  pupil.  Can  a  thought- 
ful mind  reconcile  these  statements  not  merely  in  the- 
ory, but  also  in  school  practice?  Can  we  find  a  middle 
ground  between  those  who  help  all  the  time  and  those 
who  systematically  refuse  to  help?  To  strike  this  mid- 
dle line  between  too  much  and  too  little  requires  a 
ripened  tact  and  wisdom  in  the  instructor.  It  is  quite 
easy  to  say,  "I  am  always  ready  to  help";  and  some 
teachers  are  naturally  so  inclined.  It  is  equally  easy  to 
say,  "I  refuse  to  help  you  at  all";  and  some  teachers 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE        109 

naturally  feel  and  act  in  this  spirit.  But  it  is  the  finest 
test  of  the  teacher's  quality  to  judge  wisely  and  to  help 
only  here  and  there  at  the  moment  of  real  need. 

It  is  implied  in  the  above  treatment  that  teachers 
naturally  incline  to  one  side  or  the  other  of  this  di- 
lemma; that  they  are,  by  temperament,  either  too  will- 
ing to  help  children  or  too  abrupt  in  refusing  help.  If 
so,  each  teacher  must  solve  this  problem  for  himself. 
In  order  to  secure  a  proper  balance,  he  must  deliber- 
ately throw  more  weight  on  one  side  of  the  scale.  He 
must  temper  his  zeal  on  one  side  and  put  more  strength 
into  the  other.  He  will  have  to  make  himself  over  so  as 
to  become  a  good  schoolmaster. 

We  may  illustrate  by  examples  how  the  teacher  is  to 
balance  up  the  account.  In  the  application  of  princi- 
ples already  learned,  we  usually  say  that  it  is  a  mark  of 
poor  judgment  in  a  teacher  to  work  out  a  problem  for  a 
pupil.  First  see  to  it  that  the  facts  and  conditions  of 
the  problem  are  made  clear:  then  throw  the  burden  of 
thought  back  upon  the  pupil.  If  it  is  a  question  as  to 
the  difference  in  longitude  between  two  places,  a  dia- 
gram or  map  may  be  necessary  to  cause  the  facts  to 
stand  out  clearly:  then  let  the  child  work  it  out,  but 
abstain  from  doing  this  part  of  his  thinking  for  him.  It 
is  the  business  of  teachers  to  get  the  material  of  knowl- 
edge before  a  child  in  such  a  form  and  order  that  it 
measures  up  to  his  ability :  then  turn  his  thought  loose 
upon  it  to  work  independently.  The  teacher  should 
cultivate  a  deliberate  and  thoughtful  attitude,  a  con- 
stant watchfulness  and  circumspection,  which  fits  his 


110    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

treatment  into  each  child's  needs.  One  child  requires 
help  at  a  point  where  another  would  be  damaged  by  it. 
The  study  period  is  a  good  time  to  learn  to  help  chil- 
dren properly,  because  one  can  deal  with  them  indi- 
vidually according  to  personal  qualities  and  needs. 

This  is  the  peculiar  difficulty  which  the  teacher  must 
master  for  himself  —  how  to  draw  this  fine  line  of  de- 
marcation between  too  much  and  too  little.  We  need 
the  rigor  of  a  simple  age  in  our  schools.  It  is  to  be  pre- 
supposed that  children  have  brain-power  and  the  class- 
room is  the  place  to  touch  off  this  energy  by  suggestion. 
Self-reliance,  the  power  and  the  habit  of  helping  one's 
self,  is  the  essential  thing,  and  the  teacher  is  a  means 
for  realizing,  not  for  thwarting,  this  result.  This  con- 
clusion brings  us  back  to  our  starting-point  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  chapter,  to  the  notion  of  independent 
thought. 

Permissible  and  effective  ways  of  helping  children 

1.  One  of  the  means  of  helping  and  encouraging 
children  in  their  tasks  is  almost  unconsciously  brought 
about  by  a  free  and  ready  use,  by  the  teacher  himself, 
of  the  very  exercises  and  modes  of  expression  for  which 
the  children  are  held  responsible.  For  example,  if  the 
teacher  writes  well  and  easily  on  the  blackboard,  the 
children  admire  it  and  almost  unconsciously  adopt  his 
style.  If  the  teacher  sketches  maps  and  diagrams  on 
the  blackboard  with  manifest  success  in  illustrating 
topics  in  geography,  his  easy  use  of  drawing  as  a  natu- 
ral means  of  expression  is  adopted  and  practiced  by 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         111 

the  children.  If  a  teacher  occasionally  reads  well  a 
telling  passage  in  the  literature  lesson,  it  stirs  the  feel- 
ings and  sets  the  pace  for  the  children.  Likewise  artis- 
tic drawing,  singing,  clear  and  distinct  speaking  work 
their  natural  effects.  Everything,  almost,  that  the 
teacher  does  well  and  naturally  is  a  helpful  guide  and 
stimulus.  It  aids  and  encourages  children  over  many 
hard  places. 

2.  By  insisting  on  a  complete  mastery  of  the  ele- 
mentary facts  and  ideas  in  any  study,  the  teacher  can 
smooth  the  way  through  numerous  hardships  and  diffi- 
cult problems  in  later  study.  Thus  the  elementary 
facts  in  the  number  tables,  factoring,  and  the  aliquot 
parts,  if  fully  mastered,  will  ease  the  work  through  all 
the  grades  and  through  life.  Likewise,  an  absolute 
mastery  of  inflections,  paradigms,  and  vocabularies  in 
the  first  year's  Latin  will  give  smooth  sailing  during 
the  following  years.  Let  the  teacher  use  all  his  skill  and 
influence  in  getting  a  complete  mastery  of  the  basal 
elements  of  every  study. 

3.  In  the  first  elementary  treatment  of  any  topic  the 
use  of  simple,  clear,  concrete  illustrations,  which  give 
positive  demonstration  to  the  new  ideas,  furnishes  a 
sound  basis  for  future  study.  For  example,  pictures  and 
diagrams  to  show  how  a  canal  lock  is  operated;  a  dia- 
gram showing  the  main  shaft  and  galleries  of  a  gold 
mine;  a  full  description,  with  maps,  drawings,  and  pic- 
tures, of  an  irrigation  project,  like  the  Salt  River  pro- 
ject in  Arizona;  a  series  of  clear,  illustrative  sentences 
showing  the  use  of  adverbial  clauses  in  grammar. 


112    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

4.  When  certain  tasks  are  assigned,  such  as  a  map- 
drawing,  a  composition,  or  a  construction  in  wood,  we 
may  point  out  and  warn  against  definite  mistakes  that 
are  likely  to  be  made;  such  mistakes,  for  example,  as 
were  made  in  a  similar  previous  lesson.  While  the  work 
is  in  progress,  they  should  be  criticized  on  just  these 
points  so  as  to  generate  the  right  habit. 

5.  Children  are  much  encouraged  by  receiving  dis- 
criminating approval  of  their  honest  effort  and  of  their 
progress  and  success.  Their  success,  however,  should 
be  judged  according  to  their  individual  ability  and 
effort.  Sometimes  it  is  a  great  encouragement  to  chil- 
dren to  have  some  of  their  faults  overlooked.  If  they 
are  trying  hard  and  are  making  progress  in  the  essen- 
tials, they  should  be  freely  encouraged. 

6.  In  trying  to  master  difficult  or  complicated  topics, 
children  should  be  shown  how  to  pick  out  the  main 
issues,  how  to  discriminate  between  a  few  strong  cen- 
ters of  thought  and  the  numerous  subordinate  facts 
and  details.  In  the  assignment  of  a  textbook  lesson  the 
instructor  may  take  up  one  paragraph  after  another 
and  lead  the  children  to  see  that  a  short  phrase  or 
sentence  expresses  the  gist  of  each  important  section  or 
paragraph.  He  may  also  glance  through  these  succes- 
sive headings  and  reveal  a  simple  organization  of  the 
whole  subject.  Children  are  naturally  weak  in  this 
power  to  clarify  and  organize  materials  in  a  complex 
subject.  This  is  one  way  of  teaching  them  how  to  study, 
how  to  think,  how  to  economize  time  in  study,  i.e.,  by 
picking  out  essentials  and  then  mastering  them. 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         113 

7.  One  important  means  of  increasing  the  self-reli- 
ance of  children  is  to  be  constantly  throwing  respon- 
sibility upon  them  for  doing  well  the  things  they  can 
do.  Require  them,  for  example,  to  give  full  and  ade- 
quate statements  of  topics  that  have  been  clearly  pre- 
sented and  understood.  Encourage  them  to  sketch  and 
draw  freely  at  the  blackboard  as  a  means  of  expression. 
Push  them  into  dramatization.  We  need  to  show  real 
leadership  and  tact  in  getting  them  to  take  ventures, 
to  plunge  in,  to  participate  freely  in  all  that  is  going  on. 
To  inspire  them  with  courage  is  an  important  thing. 

8.  In  taking  up  new  subjects  of  study,  as  in  the  first 
year  of  the  high  school,  teachers  should  devise  new  and 
interesting  modes  of  approach.  Now  subjects  often 
seem  so  obscure  and  inscrutable  that  children  are  com- 
pletely discouraged  before  they  have  a  chance  to  find 
out  what  they  can  do.  Latin,  at  first,  seems  so  strange 
and  foreign  to  many  children  that  they  are  defeated  be- 
fore their  powers  are  brought  into  action.  Psychology 
in  normal  schools  is  often  a  bugbear  because  it  is  so 
strange  that  students  become  homesick  for  something 
familiar.  Map-drawing  and  composition,  when  de- 
manded from  children  without  helpful  introduction 
and  suggestion,  cause  too  much  of  fretful  anxiety  and 
worry.  In  composition,  especially,  there  is  necessity 
for  suggesting  interesting  topics  and  modes  of  treat- 
ment, with  examples.  See  that  children  are  supplied 
with  sources  of  information,  and  with  some  outline  or 
plan  of  treatment.  Teachers  forget  that  children  may 
waste  much  time  and  energy  in  useless  worrying. 


114    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

9.  We  can  help  and  strengthen  children  in  their 
basal  lines  of  thought  by  steadily  requiring  them  to 
make  use  and  application  of  what  they  have  learned  in 
previous  years  and  in  other  studies.  The  treasures  of  a 
child's  past  experiences  and  acquired  knowledge  should 
be  perpetually  drawn  upon  in  new  lessons.  Keep  chil- 
dren constantly  looking  back  to  their  previous  lessons 
for  help  in  their  difficulties.  Arithmetic  is  underlaid 
with  certain  simple  facts  and  processes  which  run 
through  the  entire  course.  To  keep  up  this  continuity 
of  processes  through  the  whole  of  arithmetic,  by  daily 
association  of  lessons  with  past  work,  gives  a  sound 
mastery  and  teaches  children  how  to  make  confident 
use  of  their  knowledge  and  ability.  Comparisons  of 
later  geographical  topics  (in  Europe)  with  previous 
similar  topics  (on  America)  bring  out  very  significant 
ideas  and  also  organize  a  child's  increasing  stores  into 
logical  and  rational  series  and  groupings.  Geography 
and  history  are  so  interdependent  that  their  topics 
require  the  tracing-out  of  numerous  lines  of  association 
throughout  the  course  of  study.  Children  are  slow  to 
make  these  important  thought  connections  unless  the 
teacher  is  perpetually  alert  to  require  it.  This  is  a 
higher  phase  of  independent  thinking  into  which  chil- 
dren can  be  led  gradually. 

10.  In  some  cases  it  is  necessary  to  overcome  the 
acquired  and  settled  prejudices  of  children  against 
certain  studies.  These  hostile  feelings  spring  from  sev- 
eral sources  —  from  a  child's  own  failures  or  discour- 
agements, from  home  opinions  and  criticisms,  from 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE        115 

prevailing  sentiments  among  school  children  and  in 
the  community.  It  may  be  advisable  to  have  a  free  and 
friendly  talk  with  a  grammar-grade  class  on  this  ques- 
tion. Why  is  it  worth  while  to  study  grammar?  In 
such  a  discussion  narrowness  and  dogmatism  on  the 
teacher's  part  are  out  of  place.  Give  practical  illustra- 
tions of  what  a  business  man  requires  in  his  own  cor- 
respondence. How  much  knowledge  of  grammar  does 
a  typewriter  need?  Illustrate  how  grammar  aids  in 
correcting  our  own  mistakes.  Admit  that  there  are 
many  distinctions  in  grammar  that  are  of  little  or  no 
practical  use.  Tell  the  story  of  Lincoln's  experience 
in  securing  a  grammar  after  considerable  difficulty  and 
his  careful  study  of  it.  Later  he  became  very  proficient 
in  the  use  of  language. 

1 1 .  One  of  the  best  proofs  that  children  are  doing  self- 
reliant,  independent  thinking  is  seen  in  the  thoughtful 
questions  they  ask  when  once  interested  in  a  growing 
subject.  In  the  progressive  development  of  a  valu- 
able idea  the  children  are  often  aroused  to  vigorous, 
self-active  inquiry.  This  is  a  critical  time  for  the 
teacher.  Does  she  know  how  to  deal  with  these  lively 
questions  as  they  come  pouring  in?  Too  much  haste  in 
answering  them  would  check  and  weaken  the  thought 
movement.  Guide  them  forward  toward  the  main 
goal,  but  let  them  think  it  out  for  themselves.  Suggest 
other  facts  and  considerations  which  they  have  left  out 
of  mind.  To  guide  such  a  discussion  with  skill  is  the 
mark  of  a  prudent  instruction.  I  have  lately  heard  sev- 
eral such  lively  discussions  in  classes  where  the  teacher 


116    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

failed  to  guide  the  arguments  and  to  organize  the  re- 
sults. In  order  to  handle  such  a  situation  the  teacher 
must  have  a  full  knowledge  and  a  clear  organization  so 
as  to  see  quickly  where  to  place  a  question,  and  what  it 
leads  to.  There  are,  then,  two  stages  in  such  thought 
exercises:  first,  the  awakening  of  children  to  active  dis- 
cussion and  questioning;  second,  reinforcing  and  guid- 
ing this  thought  energy  toward  valuable  conclusions. 

Wrong  ways  of  helping  children 

1.  In  some  cases  the  teacher's  kindness  of  heart 
prompts  her  to  recite  the  lesson  for  the  child  if  the  latter 
fails.  "What  is  the  capital  of  Illinois?"  "Springfield, 
is  n't  it?  "  Or,  if  the  pupil  is  halting  or  fragmentary  in 
his  answers,  the  teacher  concludes  the  matter  by  giving 
a  full  statement.  "Tell  about  the  purchase  of  Louisi- 
ana." Pupil  —  "Jefferson  bought  Louisiana  from 
Napoleon,  paying  several  million  dollars  for  it." 
Teacher  —  "You  mean  that  Jefferson,  seeing  how 
eager  the  people  of  the  Southwest  were  to  get  posses- 
sion of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River,  authorized 
our  commissioners  in  Paris,  Livingston  and  Monroe,  to 
purchase  New  Orleans  and  a  small  strip  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river.  But  the  commissioners  were  offered,  by 
Napoleon,  the  whole  of  Louisiana  Territory  for 
$15,000,000,  and  they  boldly  accepted  it."  Pupil  — 
Yes,  that's  what  I  meant."  This  kind  of  reciting,  with 
variations  of  more  or  less  help  from  the  teacher,  is  per- 
haps too  common. 

Teachers  are  not  willing  to  let  pupils  fail,  and  so 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         117 

they  ease  up  the  situation  by  suggestions  and  by  direct 
help.  But  children  who  have  not  learned  their  lesson, 
for  no  good  reason,  should  be  allowed  to  fail,  —  yes,  to 
fail  completely  and  absolutely;  and  they  ought  to  feel 
the  shame  of  it.  While  those  who  can  recite  should  be 
encouraged  and  rewarded. 

2.  Another  mode  of  helping  children  excessively  is 
that  of  asking  too  many  easy  questions,  by  trying  first 
one  form  of  question  and  then  another,  by  suggestions 
and  modifications  to  see  if  some  sort  of  an  answer  can 
be  extracted  from  a  child.  Teacher  —  "What  was  the 
effect  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill?"  (Pause.)  "You 
know  about  the  Missouri  Compromise?"  (Pause.) 
"What  about  slaves  in  the  Territories?"  —  "How 
were  the  people  in  a  Territory  to  decide  the  question  of 
slavery?  "  —  "  What  would  happen  when  the  Territory 
was  admitted  as  a  State?"  In  such  case  as  this  the 
mere  naming  of  a  topic  by  the  teacher  ought  to  be  suffi- 
cient. If  the  pupil  has  studied  his  lesson,  let  him  recite 
the  whole  topic  without  interruption  and  without  ques- 
tions unless  serious  blunders  appear.  Students  should 
be  required  to  recite  lessons  in  full,  stating  all  essential 
facts  without  aid.  This  requirement  is  fundamental. 

3.  It  is  quite  a  common  fault  in  reading-lessons  and 
in  other  subjects  for  the  teacher  to  pronounce  new  and 
difficult  words  for  the  pupil  as  they  come  up  in  the  les- 
son. This  is  an  infringement  of  the  right  of  the  child  to 
help  himself.  We  now  know  that  children  in  the  second 
and  third  grade  (and  often  in  the  first),  if  they  have 
been  properly  drilled  in  the  use  of  phonic  sounds  and  in 


118    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

combining  them,  can  quickly  and  gladly  help  them- 
selves out  of  most  difficulties.  Such  children  like  to 
meet  new  words  and  to  try  their  strength  upon  them. 
If  primary  children  can  do  this,  how  much  more  appro- 
priate is  this  requirement  for  older  children.  They 
have  also  the  dictionary  with  which  to  help  themselves. 
This  helplessness  of  children  in  the  face  of  small  diffi- 
culties is  a  serious  criticism  of  our  teachers.  When  they 
meet  real  difficulties  in  grammar  and  arithmetic  and 
composition,  how  will  they  bear  themselves?  Teachers 
should  insistently  and  perpetually  train  children  to 
self-reliance,  to  real  effort  to  do  things. 

4.  By  patching  up  children's  faulty  work  in  a  variety 
of  ways,  teachers  lower  their  standards,  blur  over  de- 
fects, and  cultivate  a  sort  of  deception  as  to  the  real 
character  and  ability  of  children  to  do  things.  In  cor- 
recting spelling-lessons,  in  problems  set  for  arithmetic, 
in  constructive  exercises,  in  drawing,  in  composition, 
where  the  work  is  supposed  to  be  entirely  the  child's 
own,  correction  and  help  are  sometimes  rendered  by 
the  teacher,  while  the  results  are  offered  as  the  child's 
independent  work.  Be  careful  to  let  the  pupil's  work 
stand  clearly  for  just  what  it  is. 

Combined  with  this  carelessness  in  slurring  over  and 
correcting  defects  in  work  is  often  a  disposition  to  treat 
children  indulgently,  to  overlook  the  faults  of  neglect 
and  laziness.  This  tendency  easily  develops  into  ex- 
cuses for  deception  and  cheating.  The  boundaries  be- 
tween truth  and  dishonesty  are  blurred  over. 

5.  In  the  home  and  the  school  children  are  often 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         119 

helped  into  careless,  slovenly  ways  by  not  being  held 
responsible  for  completing  their  work  satisfactorily, 
and  then  for  cleaning  up  or  setting  things  in  order  after 
it  is  finished.  A  little  girl  of  four  years  was  required  by 
her  mother  to  collect  her  scattered  playthings  and  to 
clean  up  the  muss  she  had  left  on  the  floor.  The  child 
replied  to  this  request,  "Mamma,  do  you  know  that 
cleaning  up  a  muss  is  my  favorite  hateful?  "  But  clean- 
ing up  the  muss  and  putting  things  in  order  is  a  neces- 
sary part  of  every  child's  training.  To  step  in  and  re- 
lieve a  child  of  such  duties  is  a  faulty  kind  of  helping. 
It  is  helping  into  bad  habits. 

6.  One  of  Herbert  Spencer's  fundamental  principles 
is  that  we  should  allow  people  to  suffer  the  natural 
penalties  of  their  failings.  If  a  child  is  troublesome  on 
the  playground,  he  should  lose  his  play.  If  he  is  care- 
less in  scattering  his  playthings,  he  should  put  them  in 
order.  If  he  wastes  his  study  time,  he  should  make  it 
up  at  other  times.  Teachers  should  follow  this  precept 
and  not  shield  children  from  the  results  of  their  own 
faults  and  carelessness.  The  schoolroom  is  an  excellent 
field  in  which  to  try  out  this  principle.  When  school- 
work  is  properly  arranged,  it  develops  in  close  sequence. 
The  later  work  depends  upon  the  earlier.  Failure  to 
do  one's  duty  one  day  revenges  itself  the  next.  The 
teacher  should  let  children  feel  the  full  force  of  these 
natural  penalties,  modifying  his  treatment  in  case  of 
sickness  or  other  imperative  causes.  Progress  in  stud- 
ies should  be  orderly  and  systematic  and  as  little  sub- 
ject to*  whim  or  accident  as  possible.    This  orderly 


120    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

development  of  knowledge  and  habit  in  thinking  and 
acting  is  the  basis  of  success.  The  best  help  a  teacher 
can  render  the  pupil  is  steady  consistency  in  holding 
to  reasonable  requirements  in  mastering  lessons,  in 
using  one's  previous  knowledge. 

II.     INTEREST  AND  EFFORT 

A  second  controversy  whose  proper  settlement  may 
strengthen  our  plans  for  securing  self-activity  and 
independence  of  thought  is  the  recent  conflict  about 
interest  and  effort.  The  question  is,  How  shall  we  get 
vigorous,  self-reliant  thinking?  The  advocates  of  inter- 
est as  an  energizing  factor  in  study,  claim  just  this 
quality  in  their  doctrine  of  interest.  On  the  other  side 
the  defenders  of  the  long-established  doctrine  of  severe 
discipline,  of  sheer  will  effort,  in  meeting  difficulties, 
regarded  this  idea  of  effort  as  the  real  basis  for  sound 
mental  training. 

Twenty  years  ago  and  for  some  years  after  there  was 
a  sharp  controversy  between  the  two  parties.  On  the 
one  side,  the  natural,  genuine  interests  of  children  in 
school  studies  were  offered  as  a  strong  motive  for 
effort  in  acquiring  knowledge.  Studies  which  are  suited 
to  the  age  and  understanding  of  children,  when  prop- 
erly presented  and  discussed,  are  said  to  be  agreeable 
and,  in  many  cases,  absorbingly  interesting.  Such,  for 
example,  are  the  fairy  tales  and  heroic  stories,  tales  of 
adventure  and  pioneer  life,  the  simple  biographies  of 
strong  characters,  also  many  ballads  and  poems,  and 
humorous  tales  and  songs.  Nature-study  and  outdoor 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         121 

excursions,  many  live  topics  in  geography  and  travel, 
and  shop-work  are  full  of  real  meaning  and  interest  to 
children.  Even  language,  arithmetic,  and  grammar, 
in  the  hands  of  a  teacher  who  knows  how  to  use  them 
and  awaken  the  practical  insight  of  children,  are  not 
dull  and  stupid  exercises.  These  natural  interests  of 
children  in  the  content  of  school  studies  are  based  upon 
instincts  that  ripen  in  children  at  successive  periods  or 
stages  of  childhood.  Boys  and  girls  of  eight  to  ten  like 
the  hero  tales,  earlier  still  the  fairy  tales,  etc.  As  these 
instincts  ripen,  they  call  for  certain  classes  of  appro- 
priate material.  It  is  important  to  select  the  fitting 
subject-matter  at  each  period;  for  the  impulses  thus 
awakened  are  the  beginnings  of  interests  that  grow  and 
strengthen  throughout  life.  The  development  of  these 
studies  into  permanent  interests  which  outlast  school 
days  is  declared  to  be  a  character-shaping  influence  of 
prime  importance.  A  child  who  takes  no  interest  in  his 
school  exercises,  who  regards  them  as  a  bore,  who  gets 
a  positive  dislike  for  his  studies,  is  almost  a  hopeless 
case.  Without  developing  in  a  boy  strong  and  valuable 
interest  in  some  subject,  it  is  impossible  to  find  any 
center  upon  which  to  organize  his  character. 

The  development  of  a  many-sided  interest  in  the 
best  studies  and  the  best  forms  of  activity  was  set  up 
by  Herbart  and  his  disciples  as  the  goal  of  instruction. 
To  awaken  and  establish  such  interests  in  a  child's 
mental  life  and  habits  is  an  assurance  that  he  will  grow 
in  strength  and  independence  of  thought.  Through  the 
arousing  of  such  natural  interests  his  whole  being  is 


122    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTEUCTION 

involved,  his  own  personality  is  touched  and  molded  at 
the  center.  Such  interests,  therefore,  are  not  superfi- 
cial and  shallow,  but  deep  and  permanent.  Without 
developing  such  personal  interests,  education  is  not 
only  one-sided,  it  is  lacking  in  the  right  spirit.  It  has 
no  heartiness.  It  is  formal  and  mechanical.  It  lacks 
human  and  humanizing  quality.  All  knowledge  needs 
to  be  touched  with  interest  in  order  to  function.  Inter- 
est has  lubricating,  and,  at  the  same  time  energizing, 
quality.  Boys  and  girls  who  have  felt  the  touch  of  a 
real  interest  in  a  strong  branch  of  study  have  awakened 
to  a  true  intellectual  life. 

The  question  of  adjusting  the  materials  of  knowledge 
in  the  various  studies  to  the  progressively  developing 
interests  and  activities  of  children  has  opened  up  a 
whole  series  of  basal  problems  in  shaping  the  course  of 
study.  Interest  has  thus  become  one  of  the  important 
tests  to  which  all  knowledge  material  must  be  sub- 
jected. A  more  intimate  knowledge  of  child  nature  and 
of  its  stages  of  development  is  an  essential  part  of  this 
strong  educational  movement. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  severe  effort,  of 
the  discipline  of  the  will  to  overcome  hard  tasks,  has 
long  prevailed  in  the  schools  as  the  dominant  theory  of 
education.  It  has  been  a  sort  of  intellectual  rough-rider 
doctrine,  a  heroic  medicine  that  purges  the  mind  of  its 
weaknesses  and  steels  the  intellectual  and  volitional 
fibers  to  more  strenuous  and  untiring  effort.  Compared 
with  this  the  doctrine  of  interest  is  but  a  feeble,  emo- 
tional, substitute.  A  great  many  stalwart  teachers  of 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         123 

the  conservative  group,  in  higher  and  lower  schools, 
are  firmly  convinced  that  the  chief  value  of  studies  lies 
in  a  severe  and  rigorous  discipline  in  essentially  dis- 
agreeable tasks.  In  the  old  classical  schools  which  pre- 
vailed for  centuries  in  Europe  and  in  America  this 
principle  of  hard  training  was  fundamental.  Mathe- 
matics in  our  secondary  schools  and  colleges  stood  for 
the  same  idea  of  brawny,  intellectual  strenuosity. 
Arithmetic  and  grammar  in  the  common  school  were 
long  held  in  reverence  because  they  were  tough  studies, 
because  they  were  hard  and  painful  in  the  process  of 
mastering.  Education  in  this  sense  was  an  intellectual 
gymnastic  of  the  severest  sort. 

Such  studies,  severely  handled,  are  a  means  of  ener- 
gizing and  fortifying  the  will,  of  building  up  and 
strengthening  character.  From  this  point  of  view  the 
essence  of  character  is  strength  of  will,  and  the  disci- 
pline of  studies  should  center  in  this  one  aim.  This 
kind  of  training  relates  itself  also  very  closely  to  the 
needs  of  life.  Life  itself  is  made  up  of  struggles  and 
hardships.  It  demands  fighting  qualities,  strength  of 
will  and  stubbornness  of  purpose.  Education  should 
train  children  not  for  a  life  of  ease  and  gratification, 
but  for  toil  and  hardship.  This  is  a  very  simple  doc- 
trine, but  it  goes  at  the  heart  of  the  matter  and  sees  life 
as  it  is  and  not  as  it  might  be.  This  doctrine  of  strenu- 
ous, sustained  will-power  or  effort  is  one  that  appeals 
to  strong,  ambitious  minds.  It  sets  up  high  standards 
of  achievement  and  balks  at  nothing  in  the  way  of 
hardship  and  toil.  It  contains  a  strong  element  of  the 


124    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

heroic,  the  unsubduable.  The  free  man  is  the  one  who 
has  a  strong  will,  free  to  think,  free  to  act,  and  strong 
in  execution. 

This  theory  of  education  has  had  a  long  history,  has 
dominated  the  best  courses  of  study,  and  has  produced 
thousands  of  the  world's  leaders,  who  have  had  full 
confidence  in  the  virtue  of  such  a  training.  William 
James,  the  psychologist,  in  his  "Talks  to  Teachers," 
while  granting  much  to  the  opposing  doctrine  of  inter- 
est, returns  with  special  emphasis  to  the  older  doctrine 
of  effort,  of  stubborn  will-power  exerted  against  ob- 
stacles and  disagreeable  tasks.  He  even  advises  us  to 
do  something  disagreeable  every  day  as  a  mental  dis- 
cipline, as  a  severe  training  in  mental  and  moral  hardi- 
hood. Again,  while  a  genuine  interest  is  a  desirable 
adjunct  and  a  strong  reinforcement  in  all  studies,  it 
may  be  generally  admitted  that  there  are  times  when 
sheer  will,  unsupported  by  direct  interest,  must  fight 
out  the  battle  alone.  This  demand  for  strong,  inde- 
pendent will  is  met  with  in  every  important  study  and 
at  frequent  intervals,  so  that  this  mental  attitude  must 
be  cultivated  and  exercised. 

An  explanation  of  the  conservative  opposition  to 
the  doctrine  of  interest  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the 
older  pedagogy  was  profoundly  distrustful  of  the  feel- 
ings, —  i.e.,  of  the  emotional  nature.  The  feelings  were 
looked  upon  as  the  fluctuating,  unstable  element  in 
human  nature;  intellect  and  will,  on  the  other  hand,  as 
reliable  and  stable,  and  hence  as  properly  controlling 
and  dominant.   Interest,  which  is  a  phase  of  feeling, 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         125 

was  identified  with  the  idea  of  a  soft  pedagogy,  with  a 
sugar-coating  process  of  instruction,  with  pleasing  and 
entertaining  programs. 

Our  recent  psychology  is  far  more  respectful  in  its 
attitude  toward  the  feelings.  It  looks  upon  the  feel- 
ings, in  large  measure,  as  an  essential  and  noble  part  of 
human  nature,  powerfully  and  rightfully  influencing 
every  phase  of  life  and  playing  significantly  into  all 
forms  of  study.  The  feelings  are,  at  their  best,  the 
noblest  expressions  of  the  human  spirit.  A  pedagogy, 
therefore,  which  ignores  the  feelings,  or  finds  in  them 
only  a  dangerous  and  antagonistic  power,  is  very  one- 
sided and  lame.  It  does  not  bring  into  its  system  of 
thought  the  beneficent  harmony  of  the  whole  mental 
organism,  —  intellect,  feeling,  and  will. 

In  the  past,  the  doctrine  of  the  severe  discipline  of 
the  will  has  long  had  a  controlling  influence  in  shaping 
courses  of  study  and  methods  of  teaching.  It  is  now  the 
favored  theory  of  many  strong  teachers.  But  in  recent 
years  the  doctrine  of  interest,  allied  to  child-study  and 
the  later  developments  of  psychology,  has  broken  in 
upon  this  older  theory  of  hardship  and  severity,  de- 
manding a  reorganization  of  courses  of  study  and  of 
instruction.  One  main  prop  of  the  older  theory  of  will- 
discipline  was  removed  when  the  long  prevailing  no- 
tion of  distinct  mental  faculties,  as  accepted  by  the 
older  psychology,  was  attacked  and  discredited.  Our 
present  psychology  rejects  the  notion  that  the  mind 
consists  of  separate  mental  faculties,  like  memory  and 
will,  which  can  be  isolated  and  separately  trained  and 


126    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

strengthened.  Angell's  psychology,  for  example,  does 
not  recognize  the  will  as  an  entirely  distinct  form  of 
mental  action,  but  as  a  product  of  the  evolution  of  all 
the  mental  life,  including  the  feelings. 

Again,  the  notion  that  the  mind  is  best  trained  by 
doing  tasks  that  are  irksome  and  disagreeable  was  long 
regarded  as  a  part  of  the  necessary  discipline  of  life, 
and  without  such  mental  hardship  children  would  be 
ill-prepared  to  face  life's  real  problems.  In  reply  to 
this  it  may  be  said  that  the  people  who  are  doing  the 
best  work  in  the  world  are  those  who  are  interested, 
are  heart  and  soul  absorbed  in  their  enterprises.  On 
the  contrary,  the  dull,  stupid,  uninterested  worker  is 
the  hopeless  case.  We  have  no  desire,  whatever,  to 
develop  in  society  a  lot  of  drudges.  What  we  need  is 
persons  in  every  employment  who  are  thoroughly 
interested  in  their  work,  —  enthusiasts,  artists,  if  you 
please,  —  not  people  who  are  working  hopelessly, 
keeping  at  their  tasks  by  sheer  exercise  of  will,  but 
people  who  look  forward,  with  happy  faces  and  inter- 
est, upon  their  tasks.  In  the  severe  practical  duties  of 
life,  therefore,  to  depend  mainly  upon  will  and  stub- 
bornness in  overcoming  difficulties  is  a  friction-pro- 
ducing, nerve-racking,  uneconomic  method  of  running 
the  mental  machinery.  It  makes  a  virtue  of  mere  hard- 
ship. As  Lowell  says,  why  should  we  go  about  to  make 
life  duller  than  it  is?  Shall  we  make  school  duller  than 
life  itself,  and  then  call  it  preparation  for  life?  The  one- 
sidedness  of  the  old  disciplinary  pedagogy  consisted  in 
making  this  dismal  routine  of  painful  effort  the  rule 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         127 

rather  than  the  exception.  It  alone  was  made  the 
standard  upon  which  the  value  of  studies  for  a  com- 
plete curriculum  was  measured.  We  can  well  afford  to 
travel  through  tunnels  and  darkness  for  short  dis- 
tances, but  we  are  unwilling  to  be  in  the  dark  all  the 
time:  unless  we  enjoy  being  miserable  and  in  making 
others,  especially  the  young,  equally  unhappy. 

In  the  long  history  of  education  and  in  the  present 
conflicting  attitudes  of  practical  teachers,  these  oppos- 
ing theories  of  training  stand  out  in  sharp  contrast; 
first,  the  notion  of  severe  and  painful  hardship  in 
study,  second,  a  many-sided  and  growing  interest  in 
the  content  of  school  studies.  Many  conservative 
teachers  in  higher  and  lower  schools  still  hold  that  the 
chief  value  of  studies  is  in  giving  a  severe  and  rigorous 
mental  discipline  in  essentially  disagreeable  tasks.  The 
other  party  holds  that  a  genuine  interest  in  studies  and 
motives  based  on  interest  furnish  the  life  principle  of 
the  best  instruction. 

The  solution  of  this  contradiction  between  opposing 
theories  of  instruction  is  not  found  in  the  acceptance 
of  one  and  the  rejection  of  the  other.  We  must  learn 
to  do  both  things  and  to  combine  them  as  closely  as 
possible  in  all  important  studies.  Hard  problems  and 
more  or  less  of  painful  effort  in  solving  them  must  be 
met  at  almost  every  turn  in  a  well-devised  course  of 
study.  So  much  greater  is  the  need  for  a  growing  inter- 
est in  these  very  problems  and  in  the  further  objects  to 
which  they  lead.  Hard  problems  are  the  very  things  in 
which  children  have  the  strongest  interest  if  they  are 


128    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

properly  inducted  into  them.  Interest  does  not  imply 
an  enfeebling  and  disintegration  of  mental  powers,  but 
rather  a  higher  concentration  of  effort  upon  difficult 
tasks.  Hard  projects  which  require  a  good  degree  of 
courage,  skill,  persistence,  and  obstinacy  are  exactly 
suited  to  arouse  the  spirit  of  youth. 

What  sort  of  a  philosophy  of  life  have  those  persons 
who  imagine  that  the  real  achievements,  the  heroic 
enterprises  of  men  and  women,  have  been  wrought  out 
by  strong-willed  people  without  the  powerful  influ- 
ence of  the  feelings,  sentiments,  and  strong  emotions? 
What,  for  example,  inspired  David  Livingstone  to  his 
strenuous  labors  in  Africa?  Can  any  one  imagine  that 
religious  feeling  and  a  lofty  enthusiasm  were  any  less 
significant  in  his  life  than  his  remarkable  energy  of 
will?  Walter  Scott  was  a  man  of  dominant  will;  but  his 
lively  interest  and  generous  enthusiasm  are  reflected  in 
every  line  that  he  wrote.  A  strong  will,  not  well  bal- 
anced with  fine  feelings  and  sentiments,  is  a  most  dan- 
gerous quality  in  a  human  being.  Why  should  the 
schools  limit  themselves  fundamentally  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  a  strong  will  and  ignore  the  wholesome,  sweet- 
ening, humanizing  interests  and  feelings?  Why  should 
the  best  part  of  human  nature  be  left  out  of  a  school 
program? 

All  studies  swing  back  and  forth,  more  or  less,  be- 
tween the  interesting  and  uninteresting.  The  thing 
that  saves  us  from  despair  is  some  worthy  object  or 
purpose  that  awakens  our  interest  and  beckons  us  on. 
A  strong  interest  and  a  rugged  will  combine  their  forces 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE  129 

and  we  are  fully  prepared  to  encounter  and  overcome 
obstacles.  It  is  often  remarked  that  a  strong  man 
accomplishes  great  tasks  easily.  His  whole  nature  is 
enlisted  in  the  task,  his  whole  mind  is  energetic  and 
operative,  and  not  merely  so-called  pure  will,  which,  if 
it  were  a  possibility,  would  be  an  unfortunate  and 
dangerous  possession. 

Fortunately  there  is  a  much  larger  element  of  vital 
interest  in  most  studies  than  the  old  pedagogy  allowed. 
The  strongest  and  best  kind  of  interest  is  that  which 
engages  itself  in  the  solution  of  important  problems, 
and  leads  out  along  a  progressive  line  of  valuable 
thought.  The  teacher,  in  the  organization  of  studies 
and  in  the  mode  of  handling  them,  should  become  an 
expert  in  interesting  children  in  these  problems  and  in 
the  difficult  tasks  which  lead  to  their  solution.  He 
should  awaken  in  children  an  ambitious  response  to 
such  problems,  which  entice  them  to  effort  and  yet 
hold  their  secrets  in  reserve.  When  interest  is  awak- 
ened in  connection  with  real  problems  that  belong  to  a 
child's  life,  there  is  a  stirring  of  his  energies  that  will 
help  to  carry  him  through  many  toilsome  efforts.  It  is 
the  interplay  of  interest  and  painful  effort  that  gives 
the  proper  balance  to  studies  and  to  theory  and  prac- 
tice in  dealing  with  studies. 

Finally,  we  are  not  left  to  the  uncertainties  of  theo- 
retical discussion  and  debate  to  settle  the  question 
whether  these  two  opposing  ideas,  interest  and  effort, 
can  be  combined  in  teaching  children.  There  are  scores 
and  hundreds  of  schoolrooms  where  the  happy,  eager, 


130    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

and  earnest  activity  of  children  is  an  unmistakable 
proof  that  they  are  thoroughly  interested  and  that 
they  are  exerting  themselves  to  their  full  strength.  Our 
curriculum  has  already  absorbed  into  itself  a  large 
body  of  rich  culture  material  from  literature,  geogra- 
phy, music,  history,  science,  and  art,  which,  beyond  all 
controversy,  has  proved  itself  highly  interesting  and 
stimulating  to  the  minds  of  children.  The  so-called 
disciplinary  studies  still  remain,  but  they,  too,  are 
handled  in  the  spirit  of  conquest  on  the  basis  of  an 
aroused  interest  in  the  children.  The  one  question  that 
now  remains  is  how  to  make  the  best  combination  of 
these  strong  elements  of  training.  Every  teacher  should 
be  fully  aware  of  the  value  of  each  of  these  ideas,  and 
work  out  in  his  own  way  the  problem  of  combining 
them,  and  of  reaping  the  benefit  of  their  combined 
strength. 

SUMMARY  OF   CHAPTER 

Self-activity  and  initiative 

The  general  progressive  advance  of  a  child  is  from 
dictated  forms  of  study,  gradually,  but  more  and  more, 
toward  freedom  and  independent  judgment.  Yet  even 
the  mature  scholar  and  thinker  must  first  be  sure  of  the 
facts  which  nature  and  science  dictate  as  the  basis  of 
thought.  In  three  practical  ways,  as  shown  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters,  the  spirit  of  self-reliance,  or  the  free 
exercise  of  one's  thinking  power  can  be  cultivated :  first, 
by  the  independent  reproduction  of  dictated  lessons; 
second,  by  self-help  in  the  working-out  of  problems, 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         131 

throwing  children  back  upon  their  own  resources  in 
dealing  with  difficulties;  and  third,  by  the  combined 
spirit  of  interest  and  effort  in  attacking  hard  problems. 
The  higher,  more  independent  form  of  mental  life 
aimed  at  in  these  ways  we  express  by  the  word  self- 
activity. 

A  still  higher  and  less  easily  reached  phase  of  self- 
activity  we  may  name  "  initiative."  It  is  the  ability  to 
project  new  problems,  to  organize  new  and  unclassified 
material,  without  help,  on  original  lines,  to  lay  out  new 
trails.  In  selecting  and  writing  themes,  even  this  more 
difficult  kind  of  originality  can  be  cultivated.  In  de- 
signing complex  constructive  problems,  initiative  is 
necessary.  In  working  out  a  strong,  logical  argument  in 
debate,  a  similar  power  is  developed.  Initiative,  in 
this  sense,  requires  a  degree  of  boldness  and  self-confi- 
dence to  break  loose  from  the  accepted  past  and  launch 
out  for  one's  self  upon  the  unknown.  It  is  the  spirit  of 
the  inventor  and  discoverer.  It  sets  up  new  and  diffi- 
cult problems  and  requires  the  same  elements  of  knowl- 
edge, of  interest  and  will-power,  of  self-reliance  and 
boldness,  that  we  have  already  described. 

Illustrations  showing  the  need  of  strenuous  and  painful 
effort 

1.  The  beginnings  of  almost  any  new  subject  of  study 
are  apt  to  be  strange,  hard,  and  uninteresting,  and 
call  for  a  strong  persistent  effort;  e.g.,  a  new  lan- 
guage like  Latin  or  German;  algebra,  drawing. 
But  new  difficulties  are  constantly  rising  in  any 


132    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

important  study  that  require  more  or  less  of  pain- 
ful effort. 

2.  A  hard,  complicated  problem  in  arithmetic  de- 
mands steady,  persistent  effort  for  some  length  of 
time  before  it  begins  to  clear  up.  Strong,  volun- 
tary attention  is  required  for  this. 

3.  The  breaking-up  of  bad  habits  is  painful.  It  re- 
quires strong,  conscious  effort.  It  demands  a  posi- 
tive and  sometimes  extreme  effort  of  the  will  to 
turn  away  from  habits  that  are  associated  with  our 
pleasures;  e.g.,  smoking,  drinking,  etc.;  also  the 
use  of  slang  and  ungrammatical  English. 

4.  Some  of  the  important  studies  are  generally  re- 
garded as  the  least  interesting,  as  arithmetic, 
grammar,  geography,  and  spelling:  yet  they  must 
be  thoroughly  mastered.  Some  of  these  serious 
difficulties  lie  at  the  beginning  of  the  school  course 
in  primary  grades. 

5.  Reviews  and  drills  are  considered  the  dry  part  of 
studies,  but  they  are  the  chief  means  of  securing  a 
complete  mastery  of  studies.  One  must  submit  to 
strong  and  irksome  discipline  to  accomplish  such 
tasks. 

6.  Carefulness  in  small  details,  and  accuracy,  as  in 
drawing,  arithmetic,  composition,  spelling,  and 
bookkeeping,  are  very  irksome  to  many  people, 
but  they  are  important  habits  for  success  in  life 
and  are  gained  by  persistent  and  painstaking 
effort. 

7.  Neatness,  punctuality,  and  other  secondary  vir- 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         133 

tues  are  habits  formed  by  self -discipline,  by  strong 
self-direction,  by  conscious  struggle  with  one's 
own  tendencies. 

8.  Skill  and  perfection  in  any  art  are  gained  by  per- 
sistent and  often  tedious  exercise  and  repetition, 
as  typewriting,  piano-playing,  telegraphy,  proof- 
reading, public  speaking.  A  high  degree  of  skill 
either  in  thinking  or  doing  is  a  result  of  more  or  less 
painful  effort. 

9.  The  practical  utility  of  certain  important  studies 
like  grammar,  drawing,  algebra,  and  parts  of 
arithmetic  are  not  easily  demonstrated  to  children. 
They  must  take  them  on  faith  and  buckle  to  their 
tasks  without  special  incentive. 

10.  Disagreeable  and  even  repulsive  tasks  are  often 
met  with  in  the  home,  in  school,  in  social  life, 
which  we  must  learn  to  meet  unflinchingly.  They 
are  a  part  of  the  warp  and  woof  of  daily  life  which 
we  learn  by  hard  effort  to  deal  with. 

11.  The  will  must  learn  to  exercise  a  control  over  pas- 
sion and  wrong  impulses.  Cost  what  it  may  of 
struggle  and  pain,  we  should  be  trained  to  self- 
control  and  inhibition  of  many  tendencies.  The 
power  of  inhibition  is  one  of  the  fundamental  needs 
of  every  person. 

Positive  proofs  of  the  value  of  interest  in  studies 

1.  The  absorbing  interest  shown  by  primary  children 
in  fairy  tales  and  folklore  brings  several  advan- 
tages. It  makes  the  primary  school  a  happy  place 


134    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

for  teacher  and  children.  It  is  a  means  of  drawing 
and  holding  the  attention  of  children  and  of  form- 
ing a  habit  of  attention  at  a  time  when  they  have 
as  yet  little  power  of  voluntary  effort.  The  stories 
are  the  best  and  quickest  means  of  enriching  the 
common  vocabulary  of  children  and  create  a  strong 
desire  to  learn  to  read  these  and  other  stories  in 
books. 

2.  In  intermediate  grades  the  delight  which  boys  and 
girls  take  in  Robinson  Crusoe,  Ulysses,  William  Tell, 
Siegfried,  Kingsley's  Greek  Heroes,  the  stories  of 
Boone,  John  Smith,  Champlain,  and  other  pio- 
neers, the  Robin  Hood  stories,  the  Scottish  Chiefs, 
and  other  hero  tales,  is  the  foundation  of  much  of 
the  best  work  in  those  grades.  The  dramatization 
of  these  stories  brings  out  in  the  best  way  possible 
the  expression  and  action  of  the  characters.  The 
mastery  of  oral  and  written  language  is  strongly 
reinforced  by  the  interest  in  these  tales.  An  equally 
important  effect  is  the  growth  of  a  strong  tendency 
to  home  reading  of  the  better  class  of  books.  Many 
children  get  a  large  part,  and  often  the  best  part, 
of  their  education  from  this  excellent  habit  of 
home  reading.  To  interest  children  in  the  right 
kinds  of  books  and  to  lead  them  into  good  habits  of 
reading  is  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  the 
school. 

3.  American  history  and  biography  are  now  being 
opened  up  to  grammar-grade  children  in  vigorous 
and  hearty  narratives  that  are  attractive  and  in- 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         135 

structive.  Strong,  simple  characters  like  Penn, 
Franklin,  Roger  Williams,  Andrew  Jackson,  Paul 
Jones,  Robert  Fulton,  Peter  Cooper,  and  Webster 
stir  up  the  best  impulses  in  young  people.  The  big 
enterprises  of  public  improvement,  the  forward 
march  of  our  pioneers  and  farmers  across  the  conti- 
nent against  Indians  and  natural  barriers,  the  con- 
flict of  great  forces  within  our  nation  are  absorbingly 
valuable  thought  material  for  boys  and  girls,  and 
they  are  responding  to  it  in  fine  spirit.  Such  topics 
open  out  into  biography,  into  patriotic  and  social 
enterprises.  They  are  the  true  education  into  citi- 
zenship, into  a  lively  participation  in  public  affairs. 

4.  Geography,  as  it  is  now  being  studied,  creates  a 
strong  interest  in  our  national  resources  and  the 
means  of  preserving  and  developing  them,  in  books 
of  travel  and  of  foreign  lands,  in  geology  and  the 
history  of  the  earth's  crust,  in  big  plans  for  the 
rebuilding  and  sanitation  of  great  cities,  in  irriga- 
tion projects,  the  regulation  of  rivers  and  the  re- 
claiming of  deserts.  Its  historical  and  social  bear- 
ings are  of  equal  value. 

5.  Science  and  nature-study  lead  to  practical  excur- 
sions into  fields  and  laboratories,  to  the  enjoyment 
of  plant,  insect,  and  wild  animal  life,  and  weather 
phenomena.  It  is  the  entering  wedge  into  notable 
wonders  and  utilities.  Boys  and  girls  who  become 
heartily  interested  in  one  or  more  of  these  realms 
of  nature  have  a  rich  life  inheritance  in  store. 

6.  The  industrial  arts,  when  combined  with  fine  art, 


136    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

are  the  beginnings  of  a  real  respect  for  the  common 
occupations.  Such  studies  in  the  shop  and  studio 
develop  the  sympathies  for  the  superior  and  beau- 
tiful things  in  daily  life.  Through  the  work  of  the 
schools  many  girls  are  learning  to  appreciate  and 
enjoy  skill  and  art  in  household  employments.  In 
the  agricultural  work  of  corn  selection,  testing,  and 
cultivation  according  to  scientific  methods,  many 
boys  and  their  fathers  are  taking  a  new  and  en- 
larged view  of  the  possibilities  of  farm  life. 

7.  Music  as  handled  in  many  schools  to-day  is  a  joy  to 
children.  This  growing  appreciation  for  good 
music  is  a  source  of  culture  and  gratification  for  life. 
It  has  a  home  value,  a  social  value,  and  a  public 
and  national  value.  It  is  an  appeal  to  the  best 
emotional  and  aesthetic  impulses. 

8.  The  devotion  to  physical  training,  in  school  danc- 
ing and  games,  in  gymnastic  practice  and  field 
sports  and  contests,  is  an  unmistakable  proof  that 
we  now  believe,  even  in  regular  school  exercises, 
in  getting  into  close  and  vital  relation  with  chil- 
dren's real  enjoyments,  with  their  strong  social 
and  physical  impulses. 

9.  Throughout  the  years  of  school  training  we  are 
now  introducing  children  to  the  many-sided  attrac- 
tions and  pleasures  of  the  carefully  selected  litera- 
ture of  all  the  historic  peoples  of  the  world,  He- 
brews, Persians,  Greeks,  Germans,  Italians, 
French,  English,  Scandinavians,  and  Americans. 
The  selection,  ordering,  and  mode  of  presentation 


SELF-ACTIVITY  AND  INITIATIVE         137 

of  these  materials  are  based  primarily  upon  the 
natural  interests  and  sympathies  of  children  in  the 
various  grades.  The  unmistakable  aim  of  all  this 
labor  with  rich  culture  material  is  to  get  into  close 
contact  with  a  child's  heart,  with  his  aesthetic, 
emotional,  and  moral  nature.  The  results  have 
been  encouraging  in  a  high  degree,  in  the  aroused 
interest  and  permanent  improvement  of  children. 
10.  The  development  of  a  strong  and  lasting  interest 
in  any  of  the  above-described  domains  of  knowl- 
edge has  shown  very  often  a  tendency  to  spread 
into  other  studies,  to  awaken  intellectual  effort  in 
a  widening  circle. 


CHAPTER  VI 

STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE 
I.   OVER-THOROUGHNESS  AND    SUPERFICIALITY 

The  word  "thoroughness"  is  supposed  to  denote  a 
quality  peculiar  to  first-class  instruction,  and  "super- 
ficiality" may  suggest  its  opposite.  The  real  contrast  is 
between  over-thoroughness  and  superficiality  in  stud- 
ies. Teachers  differ  much  as  to  what  constitutes  proper 
thoroughness.  It  implies,  at  least,  a  through-and- 
through  mastery  of  what  is  studied.  It  is  the  result  of 
severe  application,  rigorous  thinking,  reviews,  and 
drills,  with  persistence  in  these  things  till  complete 
knowledge  is  gained.  In  its  final  issue,  it  brings  the 
power  of  adequate  expression  and  readiness  in  turning 
knowledge  into  use.  We  all  believe  more  or  less  in  this 
kind  of  thoroughness,  and  we  criticize  and  deprecate  a 
training  which  has  none  of  it.  Superficial  knowledge, 
on  the  contrary,  is  shallow,  careless,  and  fleeting.  It 
produces  bad  habits,  and  contributes  to  mental  feeble- 
ness and  fickleness.  (The  term  "superficial"  is  not 
really  adequate  to  express  our  meaning,  for  much  of 
our  knowledge  is  necessarily  superficial,  and  not  to  be 
condemned  for  that  reason.) 

On  the  other  hand,  we  know  that  thoroughness  is 
easily  carried  too  far.  It  over-emphasizes  little  and 
unimportant  things.    It  will,  not  seldom,  strain  at  a 


STANDAEDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  139 

gnat  and  swallow  a  camel.  The  schoolmaster,  if  he  is 
thorough,  is  always  in  danger  of  becoming  a  pedant  in 
trivial  things.  Over-thoroughness  defeats  its  own  pur- 
pose. In  trying  to  do  all  things  with  equal  thorough- 
ness, it  fails  to  get  the  important  things  well  done.  In 
its  punctilious  care  for  dotting  the  i's  and  crossing  the 
t's,  it  fails  to  bring  out  the  proper  structure  and  mean- 
ing of  an  important  sentence  or  paragraph.  It  neglects 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law  for  trivialities.  Triv- 
ial things,  to  be  sure,  sometimes  rise  into  importance. 
In  such  exceptional  cases  they  are  no  longer  trivial. 
Excessive  care  in  the  spelling  of  unusual  words  is  such  a 
common  error.  We  must  be  constantly  estimating 
relative  values  and  must  lift  the  more  important,  signif- 
icant things  into  prominence  for  complete  mastery. 
In  a  difficult  reading-lesson  from  Irving's  Rip  Van  Win- 
kle are  found  a  score  of  unusual  words,  the  very  ones 
which  the  teacher  is  most  apt  to  assign  for  a  spelling- 
lesson.  In  the  same  reading-lesson  (less  than  two  pages 
in  the  first  part  of  the  story)  is  a  list  of  common  words 
which  children  need  to  know.  The  two  lists  are  as  fol- 
lows: (1)  descendant,  gallantly,  chivalrous,  accom- 
panied, popularity,  conciliating,  discipline,  shrews, 
malleable,  tribulation,  termagant,  tolerable,  obsequious 
inherited,  aversion,  pestilent,  insuperable,  assiduity, 
patrimonial;  (2)  village,  siege,  character,  obedient, 
neighbor,  owing,  spirit,  fiery,  furnace,  curtain,  sermons, 
virtues,  patience,  thrice,  error,  errands,  piece,  wrong, 
cabbages.  Teachers  are  inclined  to  spend  the  time  in 
drilling  children  upon  the  spelling  of  these  uncommon 


140    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

words  and  to  overlook  or  neglect  the  common  words 
for  which  they  will  have  frequent  use  in  writing.  This 
illustrates  a  not  uncommon  practice  of  emphasizing 
the  unimportant  and  of  neglecting  the  more  important. 

In  every  good  piece  of  literature  may  be  found  a 
list  of  rare  and  peculiar  words  which  will  never  be 
taken  up  into  the  pupil's  ordinary  vocabulary  for  daily 
use.  Exercises  and  drills  upon  the  spelling  of  such 
words  are  a  waste  of  time,  time  which  is  much  needed 
for  important  studies.  All  studies  are  made  up  more  or 
less  of  useful  knowledge  which  has  only  this  secondary 
value  and  should  be  touched  upon  more  lightly. 

The  fundamental  and  basal  things  must  be  thor- 
oughly mastered,  through  painstaking  study  and  re- 
flection, by  review  and  drill;  but  many  facts  and  de- 
tails come  into  view  in  every  important  topic  which  it 
would  be  foolish  carefully  to  memorize  and  master. 
And  yet  they  are  necessary  to  a  proper  treatment  and 
understanding  of  the  more  important  ideas.  These 
lesser  facts  form  a  scaffolding  which  is  serviceable  while 
the  main  line  of  thought  is  being  built  up,  but  can  fall 
away  and  disappear  later  on.  The  concrete  details 
which  are  necessary,  by  way  of  illustration  and  signifi- 
cant background,  to  bring  out  an  important  and  funda- 
mental truth,  may  afterwards  be  neglected  and  even 
forgotten,  while  the  central  thought  still  stands  out 
with  a  clear  meaning.  We  do  not  try  to  remember  the 
details  of  particular  problems  with  which  we  illustrate 
and  master  a  rule  in  arithmetic.  But  we  do  hope  to 
hold  the  principle  or  rule  firmly  in  mind  for  future  use. 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  141 

In  working  out  the  details  of  an  important  topic  in 
geography,  like  the  Erie  Canal,  it  is  not  necessary  to  fix 
permanently  in  memory  the  number  and  size  of  locks, 
the  exact  dimensions  of  channels  and  viaducts,  the 
figures  representing  numbers  of  men  and  expense  of 
construction,  revenue  from  tolls,  etc.  But  the  main 
ideas  and  results  should  be  well  fixed  and  retained. 

We  should  learn  to  focus  attention  more  and  more 
upon  the  important  central  thoughts  and  conclusions 
and  main  facts  which  support  them,  and  to  use  the 
lesser  details  in  their  subordinate  relation  as  accessory 
and  transient  in  value.  It  is  primarily  a  question  of 
sifting  out  values  and  of  constantly  dropping  off  the 
lesser  values  and  retaining  the  gold  nuggets.  It  is  a 
constant  effort  to  get  at  essentials.  In  reading  the  best 
novels  of  Scott  or  Dickens  or  Tolstoy,  we  make  no 
effort  to  remember  the  numerous  details,  the  minutiae 
of  conversation,  description,  and  gossip,  no  matter  how 
interesting  and  essential  these  are,  temporarily,  to  the 
grasp  of  the  whole  spirit  of  the  story.  In  reading  the 
newspaper,  we  run  over  the  sheet,  picking  out  the 
more  important  items  and  ideas.  In  reading  a  strong 
magazine  article,  we  aim  not  to  retain  all  the  facts  and 
statements,  but  to  select  and  grasp  at  main  points. 
Likewise,  in  reading  the  great  historians,  poets,  and 
orators,  we  receive  strong  and  permanent  impressions 
without  responsibility  for  details  of  argument  and 
description. 

One  of  the  important  habits  for  any  good  reader  to 
acquire  is  that  of  culling  essentials  from  books  and  of 


1/ 


142    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

holding  them  fast.  In  all  the  important  thought  stud- 
ies of  the  school  there  is  about  every  leading  topic  a 
wide  fringe  of  environing  facts  and  details  which  are 
necessary  to  a  fruitful  development  of  the  main  ideas, 
but  upon  which  no  time  should  be  spent  in  reviews  and 
drills.  In  reading  larger  histories,  like  those  of  Fiske 
and  Wilson  and  Rhodes,  as  supplementary  to  text- 
books, we  get  great  advantage  from  rich  supplemental 
detail  and  concrete  illustration  without  feeling  any 
twinges  of  conscience  for  not  reducing  it  to  a  careful 
memorized  product.  The  reference  readings  in  geogra- 
phy, literature,  and  history,  which  are  brought  in  to 
support  and  enrich  the  text,  have  this  passing  value. 

The  rugged  disciplinary  schoolmaster  and  painstak- 
ing teacher  in  the  grades  may  resent  this  doctrine  of 
superficiality  in  study,  or  better,  perhaps,  the  transi- 
toriness  of  such  knowledge.  His  rejoinder  is  that  we 
already  have  too  much  careless,  superficial  learning: 
that  side  of  the  study  problem  is  already  too  marked 
and  will  abundantly  take  care  of  itself,  and,  therefore, 
it  can  well  be  left  out  of  account.  Teachers  should  not 
be  encouraged  in  this  kind  of  superficiality.  This  reply 
is  not  adequate  to  meet  the  situation.  There  are  essen- 
tial ideas  or  points  in  every  subject  that  must  be 
grasped  with  unmistakable  sharpness  and  clearness. 
They  should  be  thoroughly  mastered  and  remembered. 
Other  parts  of  temporary  value,  as  illustrative  or  ex- 
planatory material,  should  be  used  in  a  subordinate 
way.  It  is  not,  therefore,  a  question  of  dropping  out 
entirely  these  lesser  details,  but  of  knowing  how  to  use 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  143 

them  for  temporary  purposes.  These  items  are  essen- 
tial to  the  proper  treatment  and  exhibition  of  the  main 
points.  In  retelling  a  story  in  primary  grades,  a  child 
will  naturally  omit  many  of  the  particulars  and  yet 
give  a  satisfactory  reproduction.  In  this  respect  chil- 
dren differ  greatly  in  power,  and  a  teacher  who  holds 
all  alike  and  strictly  to  a  full  rendering  will  have  a 
needlessly  hard  task  of  it. 

Our  course  of  study  is  too  extensive.  Children  can- 
not master  it  in  the  time  allotted  even  with  good  teach- 
ers, if  this  principle  of  thoroughness  is  to  be  applied 
rigorously  to  all  parts  alike.  A  wise  mode  of  reduction 
and  elimination  is  to  sift  out  the  few  central,  mani- 
festly important  topics  and  to  organize  the  whole 
course  upon  this  much  simpler  basis.  But  in  the  lively 
and  realistic  treatment  of  any  such  important  topic,  a 
rich  body  of  concrete,  detailed  facts,  pictures,  and  illus- 
trative materials  is  necessary  as  a  background  and 
setting  for  the  organizing  idea.  In  the  final  drills  and 
reproductions,  much  of  this  secondary  material  may  be 
profitably  omitted. 

SUMMARY   OF  THE   ARGUMENT 

In  the  treatment  of  such  important  topics  there  is 
always  a  basis  of  leading  points  that  should  be  thor- 
oughly planned  out  beforehand  by  the  teacher  and 
later  mastered  by  careful  study  of  relations,  by  com- 
parisons, and  thoughtful  reviews.  But  on  the  outer 
fringe  of  the  discussion  is  a  large  body  of  illustrative 
facts  that  are  a  mere  housing  or  scaffolding  to  the 


144    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

main  ideas.  Thoroughness  in  memorizing  all  these 
details  would  be  pedantic  in  the  extreme,  and  would 
ruin  any  course  of  study  thus  planned. 

From  this  viewpoint,  it  is  not  true  that  whatever  is 
worth  learning  at  all  is  worth  learning  well,  that  is, 
with  complete  thoroughness.  A  teacher,  therefore,  must 
learn  to  discriminate  even  among  those  facts  which  are 
necessary  to  a  proper  treatment  of  a  topic.  In  good 
teaching  the  thought  movement  is  a  rapid  shifting 
back  and  forth  from  the  centrally  important  to  the 
merely  illustrative  or  secondary.  The  teacher  must 
have  a  keen  eye  to  discriminate  between  the  main  issue 
and  the  merely  collateral  and  illustrative  facts.  All 
good  treatment  of  thought  materials  is  a  process  of  col- 
lecting and  weighing  out  of  relative  values,  a  stressing 
and  repetition  of  the  main  ideas,  and  a  relegation  of 
the  secondary  facts  of  study  to  a  transient  service  and 
early  forgetfulness.  Thus  we  get  the  true  equipoise 
between  opposite  tendencies,  i.e.,  between  the  extremes 
of  over-thoroughness  and  superficiality. 

The  word  "superficiality"  is  somewhat  obnoxious  to 
good  teachers,  but  in  spite  of  this  it  may  serve  to  point 
out  an  important  distinction  that  teachers  are  called 
upon  to  make  in  judging  values  in  the  materials  of 
study.  Resentment  against  a  term  should  not  blind 
us  to  a  fundamental  necessity  in  proper  instruction. 

This  doctrine  of  transient  and  superficial  knowledge 
may  give  offense  to  some,  and  an  illustration  may  help 
to  clear  the  atmosphere  of  misunderstanding.  Suppose 
that  a  student  is  reporting  to  the  class  on  the  life  of 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  145 

William  Penn.  For  this  purpose  he  has  read  the  fol- 
lowing passage  from  John  Fiske's  Dutch  and  Quaker 
Colonies  in  America,  vol.  n:  — 

In  1670,  the  admiral  died,  commending  William  with  his 
last  breath  to  the  special  care  of  the  Duke  of  York.  William 
was  left  in  possession  of  an  ample  fortune,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  writing  and  preaching  in  defense  and  explanation 
of  Quakerism.  His  learning  and  eloquence,  with  a  certain 
sobriety  of  mind  that  qualified  his  mysticism,  made  many 
converts;  nor  is  it  unlikely  that  his  social  position  and  gallant 
bearing  were  helpful  to  the  cause  in  some  quarters.  It  was 
largely  due  to  Penn  that  current  opinion  gradually  ceased  to 
confound  the  disciples  of  Fox  with  the  rabble  of  Antinomian 
fanatics  with  which  England  was  then  familiar,  and  to  put 
them  upon  a  plane  of  respectability,  by  the  side  of  Presby- 
terians and  other  dissenters.  Again  and  again,  while  engaged 
in  this  work,  Penn  was  thrown  into  prison  and  kept  there  for 
months,  sometimes  in  the  Tower,  like  a  gentleman,  but  once 
for  six  months  in  noisome  Newgate,  along  with  common 
criminals.  These  penalties  were  mostly  for  breaking  the 
Conventicle  Act.  The  reports  of  the  trials  are  often  very 
interesting,  by  reason  of  the  visible  admiration  felt  by  the 
honest  judges  for  the  brilliant  prisoner.  "I  vow,  Mr.  Penn," 
quoth  Sir  John  Robinson  from  the  bench  one  day,  "I  vow, 
Mr.  Penn,  I  am  sorry  for  you.  You  are  an  ingenious  gentle- 
man, all  the  world  must  allow  you,  and  do  allow  you  that; 
and  you  have  a  plentiful  estate;  why  should  you  render  your- 
self unhappy  by  associating  with  such  a  simple  people? " 
Sometimes  the  prisoner's  ingenuity  and  resourcefulness  would 
baffle  the  prosecutor,  and  in  despair  of  other  means  of  catch- 
ing him  the  magistrate  would  tender  the  oath  of  allegience. 
But  Penn's  subtlety  was  matched  by  his  boldness.  Once 
when  the  judge  insulted  him  by  a  remark  derogatory  to  his 
character,  the  reply  came  quickly  and  sharply,  "I  trample 
thy  slander  as  dirt  under  my  feet!"  And  this  boldness  was 
equaled  by  his  steadfastness.  Once  the  Bishop  of  London 
sent  word  to  him  in  the  Tower,  that  he  must  either  withdraw 
certain  statements  or  die  a  prisoner.  "Thou  mayest  tell  him," 
said  Penn  to  the  messenger,  "that  my  prison  shall  be  my 


146    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

grave  before  I  will  budge  a  jot,  for  I  owe  obedience  of  my 
conscience  to  no  mortal  man." 

The  student's  actual  report  of  this  passage  to  the 
class  might  run  as  follows :  — 

On  the  death  of  his  father  in  1670,  William  Penn  inherited 
an  ample  fortune.  He  gave  his  time  to  the  preaching  of 
Quaker  doctrines.  His  eloquence  in  preaching  and  his  social 
position  probably  did  much  to  give  the  Quakers  a  standing  of 
respectability,  somewhat  on  a  par  with  Presbyterians  and 
Puritans. 

As  he  traveled  about  preaching,  he  was  often  thrown  into 
prison,  once  for  six  months  in  filthy  Newgate  with  common 
criminals. 

In  his  defense  before  the  magistrates  he  won  the  admira- 
tion of  the  judges  by  his  shrewdness,  intelligence,  and  ability 
to  defend  his  cause.  One  Judge  Robinson  openly  applauded 
him  and  wondered  that  he  consorted  with  such  simple  peo- 
ple. When  one  of  the  judges  gave  him  a  sneering  insult,  he 
boldly  replied,  "I  trample  your  slander  into  the  dirt  beneath 
my  feet."  He  was  also  very  steadfast.  When  the  Bishop  of 
London  sent  word  to  him  that  he  must  recant  or  die  in  prison, 
he  sent  back  the  reply  that  he  would  make  his  prison  a  grave 
rather  than  submit  his  conscience  to  the  dictation  of  any 
man. 

This  statement  is  not  quite  half  so  long  as  the  orig- 
inal passage.  Another  student,  reporting  on  the  same 
passage,  would  give  the  gist  of  the  matter  in  a  still 
more  condensed  form  occupying  perhaps  a  quarter  of 
the  original  space.  What  a  pupil  ought  to  remember 
permanently  from  such  a  passage  might  be  expressed 
thus :  — 

William  Penn,  though  rich  and  aristocratic,  preached  the 
Quaker  doctrines,  suffered  for  them  in  prison,  defended  him- 
self boldly  and  eloquently  before  the  courts,  and  refused 
absolutely  to  submit  his  conscience  to  any  man's  rule. 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  147 

Many  topics  studied  in  history,  geography,  litera- 
ture, and  science  admit  of  such  a  detailed  introductory 
treatment,  concrete  and  descriptive;  while  the  final 
summary  will  give  a  condensed  statement  of  essentials 
which  should  be  mastered  and  thoroughly  fixed.  This 
kind  of  study  imposes  a  constant  thoughtful  discrim- 
ination and  a  habit  of  judging  facts  in  their  relation  to 
fundamental  ideas. 

Illustrations  of  things  to  be  thoroughly  understood  and 
mastered 

1.  Centrally  important  ideas  and  characters  in  his- 
tory. 

Facts  must  be  grouped  and  combined  in  such  a  way 
as  to  bring  out  the  important  ideas  and  persons; 
e.g.,  the  idea  of  self-government  as  developed  by 
the  early  colonies  in  New  England;  the  characters 
of  John  Winthrop  and  Roger  Williams. 

2.  Main  processes  and  principles  in  nature-study  and 
science;  e.g.,  the  circulation  of  moisture  by  evapo- 
ration, winds,  rains,  etc. ;  the  life  nistory  of  trees, 
plants,  insects,  etc. 

3.  The  complete  mastery  of  necessary  formal  ele- 
ments; as,  the  phonetic  elements  in  reading  and 
spelling  and  quickness  in  their  use;  the  arith- 
metical tables  and  facts,  simple  notation  in  music. 

4.  Memorize  important  select  passages  in  poetry  and 
prose,  especially  those  which  express  fundamental 
ideas  or  sentiments  or  embody  artistic  conceptions. 

5.  The  thorough  understanding  and  use  of  processes 


148    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

in  arithmetic  and  the  underlying  continuity  in 
these  processes. 

6.  The  sequence  of  important  topics  in  any  large  unit 
of  study,  in  geography,  history,  and  science;  e.g., 
the  lumber  industry,  the  growth  of  territory  in  the 
United  States. 

7.  A  few  main  classes  and  distinctions  in  grammar, 
and  the  ability  to  analyze  any  sentence  into  its 
main  elements. 

8.  Complete  memorizing  of  vocabularies,  phrases, 
and  modes  of  sentence  construction  in  a  foreign 
language. 

9.  The  conclusions  and  summaries  that  result  from 
thoughtful  comparisons;  as  in  comparing  great 
rivers,  cities,  states,  industries,  nations,  continents, 
etc. 

10.  The  dates  of  a  few  centrally  important  events  in 
history;  as,  1492,  1607,  1620, 1787, 1861,  in  Amer- 
ican history.  But  perhaps  more  essential  are  the 
few  great  epochs  and  periods  in  American  and 
world  history,  expressed  graphically  by  diagrams. 

11.  The  working-out  of  complete  units  of  construction 
in  the  manual  arts,  including  design,  construction, 
and  use. 

12.  The  substantial  mastery  in  essentials  of  complete 
stories,  poems,  and  even  larger  masterpieces  in 
literature:  e.g.,  The  King  of  the  Golden  River,  The 
Pied  Piper,  Evangeline. 

13.  The  more  complete  mastery  of  the  main  elements 
and  principles  of  all  studies,  as  revealed  by  the 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  149 

power  to  make  new  applications  to  various  studies 
and  to  life  conditions  outside  of  the  school. 
14.  The  constant  emphasis  of  moral  ideas  and  disposi- 
tions and  habits  of  behavior,  showing  respect, 
courtesy,  helpfulness,  honesty,  courage,  etc. 

Illustrations  of  knowledge  which  is  of  secondary  or 
transient  value 

1.  In  map  study  and  drawing,  the  smaller  bends  of 
coast  lines  and  rivers,  likewise  the  less  important 
towns,  mountains,  and  political  divisions.  For 
example,  in  studying  the  North  German  Empire  in 
Europe,  the  names  of  the  twenty-five  States  of 
which  it  is  composed,  are  not  required.  It  is  of 
doubtful  value  to  learn  the  names  and  location 
of  all  the  forty-eight  capitals  of  the  American 
States. 

2.  The  number  of  men  killed  or  made  prisoners  in 
battles.  In  the  Civil  War  even  the  names  of  many 
subordinate  battles  would  better  be  omitted,  as 
is  now  customary. 

3.  Numerous  dates  and  facts  in  history  may  be  used 
temporarily  or  omitted,  such,  for  example,  as  the 
smaller  details  in  the  early  history  of  the  thirteen 
American  colonies;  e.g.,  the  details  of  Indian 
massacres,  etc. 

4.  Much  of  the  statistical  data  in  geography;  as,  for 
example,  the  quantity  of  products  of  each  of  the 
States  and  the  rank  of  each  State  as  to  production. 
Such  statistical  data  arranged  in  an  appendix  can 


150    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

be  frequently  used  in  making  comparisons  among 
States,  cities,  rivers,  productions  for  the  whole 
country,  and  in  foreign  lands. 

5.  Names  and  order  of  English,  French,  German,  and 
Roman  sovereigns.  Instead  of  this  an  interesting 
biographical  acquaintance  with  a  few  important 
characters,  such  as  Elizabeth,  Cromwell,  Victoria, 
Peter  the  Great,  Louis  XIV,  Frederick  the  Great, 
Napoleon,  Charlemagne,  and  Caesar,  is  desirable. 

6.  In  general  omit  from  the  final  drills  all  facts  in 
geography  and  history  which  are  not  associated 
directly  with  important  ideas  or  which  do  not  help 
to  clear  up  such  ideas.  Many  names  which  we  have 
often  learned  and  located  in  geography  have  no 
special  significance,  as  Cape  Mendocino,  Lake 
Baikal,  Desert  of  Gobi,  Limpopo  River,  Tiflis, 
Orizaba,  Nova  Zembla,  etc. 

7.  Many  of  the  secondary  distinctions  and  classifica- 
tions in  grammar;  as  the  kinds  of  conjunctive 
adverbs,  prepositional  phrases. 

8.  The  spelling  of  numerous  unusual  words.  Thus 
save  time  for  drill  upon  common  everyday  words. 

9.  In  studying  literature,  the  mere  names  of  authors, 
books,  and  biographical  data  that  carry  no  mean- 
ing and  are  an  encumbrance  to  the  mind  and  some- 
thing of  a  deception. 

10.  In  arithmetic  an  elimination  has  already  been 
made  of  less  important  tables  in  compound  num- 
bers, and  of  many  advanced  but  unsuitable 
topics. 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  151 

II.   PERFECTION  AND    CRUDENESS    IN    WORK 

Closely  allied  to  this  doctrine  of  thoroughness  in 
knowing  is  the  notion  of  precision,  and  accuracy,  and 
even  perfection  in  doing.  Its  opposite  is  crudeness  and 
careless  workmanship  running  off  into  slovenliness. 

In  writing,  drawing,  and  speaking,  skillful  motor 
habits  are  to  be  acquired  and  a  superior  standard  of 
accomplishment  set  up.  In  constructive  exercises  and 
bookbinding,  in  domestic  science  laboratories,  in  shop- 
work  and  gardening,  motor  skill  is  demanded  and 
steadily  cultivated.  Children  gain  quickness  and  mus- 
cular control  in  physical  and  gymnasial  exercises  and 
in  field  sports.  During  recent  years  the  physical  or 
motor  activities  have  developed  in  scope  and  import- 
ance until  about  one  half  of  the  time  of  the  school  is 
now  employed  in  motor  effort  of  one  kind  or  another. 
It  is  of  much  importance,  therefore,  to  determine  the 
standards  of  excellence  upon  which  this  kind  of  work 
is  to  be  measured.  % 

It  is  the  peculiar  business  of  the  school  to  set  up  good 
standards  and  to  work  definitely  and  steadily  for  their 
realization.  Many  skillful  teachers  set  up  from  the 
very  start  the  idea  of  perfection  in  doing  things  as  their 
standard.  In  arithmetic,  for  instance,  a  high  degree  of 
speed  and  accuracy,  as  near  perfection  as  possible,  is 
the  aim.  In  spelling,  writing,  map-drawing,  and  in 
tool-work  in  the  shop,  a  standard  close  to  perfection  is 
kept  in  view.  To  secure  these  standards  severe  and 
long-continued  drills  are  necessary,  and  oftentimes  the 


152    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

work  becomes  irksome  and  even  exasperating  to  the 
children. 

Over  against  this  demand  for  a  high  grade  of  exact- 
ness and  precision  we  may  set  up  the  opposite  doctrine 
of  the  necessary  crudeness  and  imperfection  of  most 
activities  which  children  are  required  to  perform.  No 
teacher  in  his  senses  will  set  up  perfect  formal  accuracy 
in  the  writing  of  first  and  second  grade  children  as  a 
required  standard.  It  is  only  very  slowly  and  gradually 
that  they  acquire  a  reasonably  accurate  and  legible 
form  in  writing:  the  same  also  with  drawing  and  con- 
struction. All  forms  of  skill  and  precision  are  acquired 
slowly  and  by  degrees.  Children  develop  through  crude 
and  imperfect  effort,  even  through  error,  toward  accu- 
racy and  perfection.  Their  muscles  and  physical  con- 
trol are  at  first  undeveloped.  Any  teacher  who  de- 
mands perfect  form  in  writing,  and  close  accuracy  in 
drawing,  or  exact  skill  in  the  use  of  tools,  is  forcing  an 
unnatural  and  premature  accomplishment  upon  chil- 
dren. This  extreme  demand  for  superior  skill  imposes 
upon  children  an  unreasonable  burden  of  anxiety  and 
painful  effort  which  brings  on  excessive  nervous  strain. 
It  is  too  high  a  price  for  excellence.  I  have  seen  chil- 
dren in  third  and  fourth  grades,  under  high  pressure, 
attain  an  accuracy  in  formal  written  work  that  was 
surprising,  —  the  admiration  of  parents  and  even  of 
teachers.  But  it  was  equally  painful  and  harmful  in  its 
results.  In  wood-working  problems,  insistence  upon 
extreme  accuracy  and  skill  in  using  tools  and  in  fitting 
joints  will  quickly  discourage  boys  from  that  kind  of 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  153 

work.  Adults  and  even  teachers  often  make  the  mis- 
take of  setting  up  adult  standards  for  children.  They 
seem  to  think  that  children,  with  one  leap,  can  reach 
the  point  which  the  adult  has  attained  after  years  of 
special  training.  It  would  save  us  from  some  blunder- 
ing to  remember  that  all  skill  is  based  on  habit  and 
habits  are  built  up  slowly  through  long-continued 
effort.  Especially  is  this  true  of  complicated  habits 
like  those  of  writing,  speaking,  reading,  of  games  like 
ball-playing,  of  piano-playing,  and  of  social  behavior. 

The  standard  of  excellence  that  should  be  set  up  for 
children's  motor  accomplishments  in  school  is  a  con- 
stantly changing  and  developing  one.  There  should  be 
a  steady  growth  toward  precision  and  accuracy  through 
the  years.  But  the  adoption  of  very  high  standards  of 
excellence  in  early  years  is  a  not  uncommon  mistake, 
and  is  a  sign  that  the  schoolmaster  has  not  balanced  up 
properly  the  account  between  ideal  precision  on  one 
side  and  the  necessary  crudity  of  children's  efforts  on 
the  other  side. 

While  the  strong,  ambitious  teacher  is  often  inclined 
to  require  an  excellence  which  is  too  severe,  when  the 
age  and  powers  of  the  children  are  considered,  the  feeble, 
inefficient  teacher  is  not  sufficiently  definite  and  posi- 
tive in  enforcing  higher  standards  upon  children.  Some 
children  of  the  same  age  are  capable  of  much  higher 
excellence  than  others,  and  the  demands  will  vary  with 
the  persons.  The  teacher,  therefore,  must  work  on  a 
sliding  scale  and  constantly  adjust  his  requirements  to 
the  age  and  individual  ability  of  the  pupils,  while  ever 


154    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

reconciling  the  two  opposed  tendencies  of  too  great 
stringency  on  the  one  side,  and  too  much  looseness  and 
carelessness  on  the  other.  What  children  can  do  with 
relative  freedom  and  ease,  or,  stated  negatively,  with- 
out overstrain  and  nervous  anxiety,  is  safe.  It  doubt- 
less seems  desirable  to  many  teachers  to  have  a  fixed 
standard,  so  that  they  may  know  just  what  is  required 
and  then  hew  to  the  line,  but  the  demand  is  practically 
impossible  and  unjust.  Standards  of  excellence  in  for- 
mal dexterities  are  necessarily  relative  and  progressive. 
The  teacher  is  very  certainly  and  distinctively  an 
adjuster.  In  every  class  and  with  every  child,  so  far  as 
possible,  there  should  be  a  fair  and  reasonable  consid- 
eration of  all  the  varied  and  conflicting  elements  in  the 
problem.  In  this  rational,  prudent,  and  sympathetic 
measuring  up  and  balancing  of  forces,  the  teacher  finds 
his  most  difficult  problem  and  his  chief  duty. 

Up  to  the  age  of  about  sixteen  years  children  should 
have  a  wide  variety  of  experiences  of  the  motor  type, 
games,  tree-climbing,  and  field  sports,  gymnastic 
drills,  dancing,  boating,  swimming,  boxing,  tennis,  ball- 
games,  jumping,  running,  turning,  quoits,  horseback 
riding,  etc.  In  none  of  these  things  is  a  very  high  degree 
of  skill  necessary.  In  general,  only  a  limited  skill  is 
desirable.  Anything  that  looks  toward  excessive  skill 
and  professionalism  is,  of  course,  excluded.  This  wide 
range  of  motor  experiences  gives  health  and  flexibility 
to  all  the  bodily  organs  and  prepares  them  for  later 
prompt  and  varied  adjustment  to  life  conditions.  A 
medium  degree  of  development  in  all  these  forms  of 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  155 

motor  skill  is  desirable  and  is  suited  both  to  the  present 
physical  powers  of  children  and  to  their  future  adult 
requirements.  The  teacher  should,  indeed,  set  up 
strong  standards  of  excellence  for  all  the  motor  activi- 
ties of  young  people,  standards,  too,  that  call  for  real 
effort;  but  they  should  strike  a  medium  line  of  skill  and 
efficiency  adapted  to  the  age  and  power  of  children. 
To  determine  this  satisfactory  standard  and  make  it 
steadily  progressive  through  the  grades  calls  for  a  ripe, 
well-balanced  judgment  in  the  instructor. 

The  reasonableness  of  this  theory  of  gradually  im- 
proving standards  may  be  demonstrated  in  many  ways. 
A  twelve-year-old  boy  is  not  expected  to  show  the  skill 
in  baseball-playing  that  is  common  among  youths  of 
eighteen.  In  the  commercial  school  a  young  man  of 
nineteen  may  easily  develop  a  perfection  in  penman- 
ship that  cannot  be  expected  in  the  seventh  or  eighth 
grade. 

Moral  education,  also,  as  expressed  in  conduct, 
shows  the  same  principles  at  work.  In  the  growth  of 
good  manners  and  social  behavior  in  childhood,  to  set 
up  adult  standards  of  action  and  dress  would  be  fool- 
ish. To  make  premature  gentlemen  and  ladies  out  of 
boys  and  girls  is  to  set  a  premium  on  priggishness  and 
conceit.  Children  grow  into  good  manners  very  gradu- 
ally. It  is  only  crabbed  bachelors  and  those  who  have 
little  experience  and  sympathy  with  children  who  ex- 
pect them  to  behave  in  the  supposed  perfect  style  of 
adults.  Conduct  is  defined  as  the  highest  of  the  fine 
arts.   It  is  so,  perhaps,  because  social  behavior  is  so 


156    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

complicated.  It  requires  a  combination  of  mental  and 
motor  habits  in  an  intricate  variety  of  adjustments. 
Even  adolescents,  therefore,  are  notably  deficient  in 
what  we  call  matured  good  manners.  The  moral  dis- 
positions which  lie  at  the  basis  of  suitable  conduct  are 
only  slowly  and  deliberately  matured.  They  involve  all 
the  elements  of  a  rich,  well-organized  mental  life  com- 
bined with  complex  motor  habits,  and  are  the  out- 
growth of  inner  struggles  and  conquests.  All  these 
developing  activities  and  tendencies  must  be  combined 
in  proper  proportions  and  slowly  settled  into  habits, 
and  those  habits  in  turn  placed  in  the  service  of  a  free 
and  versatile  personality  or  will. 

The  careful  determination  of  the  standard  of  motor 
skill  that  may  be  reasonably  set  up  for  children  is  im- 
portant again  because  it  bears  directly  upon  the  prob- 
lem of  vocational  training  which  is  now  in  the  fore- 
front of  public  discussion,  and  is  demanding  a  definite 
settlement.  For  a  long  time  business  men  have  criti- 
cized the  schools  sharply  because  children,  on  leaving 
the  school,  are  not  trained  in  those  particular  forms 
of  skill  which  business  requires;  for  example,  in  clerk- 
ships and  in  reckoning  as  required  by  banks  and  busi- 
ness houses.  Even  in  the  skillful  use  of  tools  in  some 
kinds  of  shop-work  this  practical  expertness  has  been 
demanded  of  school  children.  There  is  some  show  of 
justice  in  this  demand  in  letter-writing  and  figuring, 
which  most  resemble  school-work.  But  experts  in  most 
trades  and  special  callings  are  too  wise  to  make  such 
demands  from  school  children.   The  blacksmith,  the 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  157 

shoemaker,  the  tailor,  and  the  jeweler  know  better 
than  to  make  such  special  requirements.  When  a  boy 
just  out  of  school  enters  one  of  these  trade  or  business 
lines  he  has  much  special  knowledge  yet  to  acquire. 
The  main  question  is,  How  well  prepared  is  he  to  learn 
a  special  trade  with  quickness  and  accuracy?  What 
preparatory  mental  and  motor  experience  and  skill  has 
he  that  will  enable  him  promptly  to  master  a  special 
trade  or  calling? 

The  present  strongly  voiced  public  demand  for  vo- 
cational training  —  that  is,  for  schools  that  will  train 
efficiently  for  special  callings  —  is  an  acknowledg- 
ment, on  the  one  side,  that  the  common  schools  can- 
not directly  prepare  children  for  special  trades  and 
occupations,  and  on  the  other  side,  that  a  special 
training  of  considerable  length  and  variety  in  special 
schools  is  required  in  nearly  every  important  trade  or 
business  in  order  to  fit  apprentices  with  the  skill  and 
efficiency  necessary  in  these  different  occupations. 
The  child  needs  a  certain  minimum  of  general  educa- 
tion before  beginning  any  special  trade,  and  the  com- 
mon school  is  designed  to  give  this  broad  foundation 
of  necessary  general  knowledge.  With  older  children 
in  grammar  schools  occasional  efforts  are  made  with 
the  beginnings  of  vocational  work.  Generally  speak- 
ing it  may  be  regarded  as  a  mistake  for  a  child  below 
fourteen  and  even  below  sixteen  to  acquire  any  high 
degree  of  expertness  in  a  special  calling.  Such  special- 
ization means,  in  most  cases,  the  stopping  of  general 
education.     But  a  child's  opportunities  for  general 


158    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

culture  should  not  suffer  eclipse  by  too  early  special- 
ization. 

The  other  chief  reason,  already  suggested,  why  we 
cannot  work  out  any  complete  plan  for  vocational 
education  in  the  elementary  school,  below  the  high 
school,  is  that  the  high  degree  of  skill  required  in  an 
adult  trade  is  not  attainable  by  children.  This  kind  of 
perfected  skill  in  an  art  or  trade  is  usually  acquired  by 
young  people  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty, 
when  the  physical  as  well  as  the  mental  powers  are 
coming  to  their  full  development.  If  this  is  generally 
true,  trade  perfection  cannot  be  set  up  as  a  standard 
in  the  eighth  grade,  much  less  in  the  grades  below. 
In  business  and  the  practical  life  of  the  industries 
among  leading  nations,  the  usual  time  set  for  begin- 
ning a  trade  or  skilled  art  is  the  age  of  sixteen.  All 
vocational  training  will  be  compelled  to  adjust  itself 
to  this  important  fact  in  human  nature.  There  are 
doubtless  many  kinds  of  preliminary  training  in  the 
manual  arts,  in  physical  training,  games,  etc.,  which 
lead  up  to  and  pave  the  way  to  more  efficient  voca- 
tional training  later  on.  But  children  in  the  grades 
should  not  be  prematurely  hurried  into  skilled  arts 
and  trades  before  they  are  physically  and  mentally 
mature  enough  to  take  on  the  required  skill. 

Conclusions 

1.  The  standard  of  excellence  to  be  put  forward  for 
testing  motor  activities  in  the  school  is  constantly 
changing  and  adjustable,  and  is  necessarily  de- 


STANDARDS  OF  EXCELLENCE  159 

pendent  upon  the  ability  and  stage  of  growth  of  the 
children. 

2.  There  is  danger  on  the  one  side  of  too  low  and  care- 
less standards  and  on  the  other  of  too  difficult  and 
unattainable  standards  of  perfection  for  children. 

3.  Adult  standards  of  motor  skill  in  the  trades  and 
occupations  are  not  appropriate  to  children  in  the 
grades,  but  belong  to  the  vocational  schools  and 
to  later  adult  life.  Teachers,  parents,  and  adults 
generally  are  naturally  inclined  to  impose  matured 
standards  prematurely  upon  children. 

A  comparison  of  the  two  lines  of  thought  in  this  chapter 

(1)  Over-thoroughness  versus  superficiality  in  learn- 
ing, and  (2)  perfection  in  doing  versus  imperfect  work, 
show  the  same  governing  principle  which  demands  a 
moderate  degree  of  excellence,  well  balanced  between 
too  severe  and  too  careless  requirements,  and  a  pro- 
gressively improving  standard  of  thoroughness  and 
motor  skill  suited  to  the  increasing  powers  of  children. 

Examples  of  crudeness  and  of  gradually  developing 
skill  in  children 

1.  In  their  games  children  develop  their  skill  day  by 
day  under  the  impulse  of  rivalry  and  of  the  game  or 
play  spirit.  It  is  well  advised  that  children  of  the 
same  age  and  physical  powers  play  together.  They 
have  reached  about  the  same  stage  of  muscular  con- 
trol and  of  skill.  Gradually  they  develop  strength 
and  dexterity  by  mutual  interaction. 


160    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

2.  A  child  working  with  others  in  the  garden  handling 
tools  and  plants,  little  by  little  takes  on  the  move- 
ments and  habits  that  lead  to  efficiency. 

3.  Why  are  some  mothers  unwilling  to  permit  their 
daughters  to  help  with  the  cooking,  or  sewing,  and 
with  other  phases  of  housekeeping?  Often  it  is 
because  the  children  are  awkward  and  unskillful. 
They  make  a  muss,  they  waste  materials,  and  the 
mothers  are  not  willing  to  put  up  with  their  crude 
and  faulty  efforts. 

4.  A  farmer's  boy,  in  learning  to  milk,  to  build  sheds 
and  barns,  to  use  and  repair  farm  machines,  to  load 
hay  on  a  wagon  or  build  a  stack,  to  handle  calves 
and  horses,  acquires  the  art,  slowly,  of  doing  these 
things  with  some  degree  of  efficiency.  But  the 
highest  degree  of  expertness  in  conducting  a  farm 
is  usually  only  gained  later  when  he  takes  up  agri- 
cultural study  in  a  scientific  way  at  a  professional 
school. 

Examples  of  the  danger  of  setting  up  too  high  standards 
for  motor  excellence 

1.  In  executing  manual  constructions,  boys  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades  are  often  discouraged  by 
a  teacher  who  requires  perfection  of  workmanship 
and  first-class  finish.  Their  whole  interest  is  lost 
and  a  certain  repulsion  for  such  work  is  generated. 

2.  In  the  musical  training  of  young  people  excessive 
drills  in  the  perfection  of  musical  technique  fre- 
quently tire  and  disgust  children  who  might  de- 


STANDARDS  OP  EXCELLENCE  161 

velop  more  gradually  to  a  high  appreciation  and 
skill. 

3.  Young  children,  if  left  to  themselves  to  draw  and 
sketch  spontaneously,  often  develop  to  considerable 
power  of  expression  with  the  pencil,  but  when  dic- 
tated to  by  their  elders,  who  are  aiming  at  too  much 
care  and  skill  in  execution,  they  lose  interest  and 
cease  to  draw. 

4.  In  writing  exercises,  too  exacting  standards  as  to 
form  produce  cramped  movements  and  check  free- 
dom, while  a  free  arm  movement  is  necessary  to  the 
formation  of  good,  easy  writing. 

5.  When  parents  dictate  to  children  excessively  high 
standards  of  moral  behavior,  they  are  trying  to 
develop  the  virtues  prematurely  and  are  in  great 
danger  of  producing  hypocrisy,  priggishness,  and 
a  merely  formal  subservience.  A  more  gradual  and 
rational  development  of  manners  with  proper  re- 
gard to  a  child's  own  feelings  and  impulses  is  a 
much  safer  course,  leading  to  sincerity,  frankness, 
and  true  courtesy. 

6.  Where  such  high  standards  are  successfully  worked 
out  with  children,  the  results  may  be  unfortunate 
because  of  checking  a  child's  general  educational 
advance,  as  when  music  or  drawing  are  prema- 
turely raised  to  a  high  degree  of  skill.  Or,  the 
unusual  skill  of  a  boy  in  baseball  and  other  sports 
may  draw  him  away  from  his  studies  and  give  him 
a  strong  tendency  to  professional  athletics. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS 
I.    THE  CONCRETE  AND   THE  ABSTRACT 

The  terms  "concrete"  and  "abstract"  stand  in 
distinct  contrast  as  a  pair  of  opposites.  The  concrete 
is  expressed  in  a  material  object;  the  abstract  is  a 
purely  mental  product  and  is  immaterial.  Other 
terms  are  also  used  to  designate  this  same  contrast; 
as,  "particular  notion"  and  "general  notion,"  "per- 
cept" and  "concept." 

In  psychology,  the  chapters  dealing  with  the  per- 
cept and  the  concept  have  long  been  regarded  as  of 
prime  importance  because  they  have  been  supposed 
to  explain  the  universal  thought  process  in  learning. 
The  process  by  which  percepts  are  developed  into 
concepts  gives  a  combined  inductive-deductive  method 
which  is  taken  as  the  general  law  for  teachers.  There 
has  been  much  dispute  as  to  how  the  concept  is 
formed  and  as  to  the  parts  played  by  induction  and 
deduction.  But,  broadly  speaking,  the  movement  is 
from  the  concrete  to  the  abstract.  In  any  case  there 
is  a  very  close  connection  and  interdependence  be- 
tween percept  and  concept.  Psychology  is  very  ex- 
plicit in  saying  that  nothing  gets  into  the  mind  except 
through  the  senses  (including  sensations  coming  from 
kinesthetic  reactions).   The  raw  materials  of  knowl- 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  163 

edge,  known  as  "sense-percepts,"  are  developed  into 
concepts.  All  the  later  structure  and  organization  of 
knowledge  is  built  upon  this  foundation  of  percepts 
and  concepts.  The  more  closely  we  try,  by  a  psycho- 
logical analysis,  to  trace  the  process  by  which  percepts 
grow  into  concepts,  the  more  intimate  appears  their 
relation.  In  fact,  we  cannot  precisely  draw  the  line 
between  them,  so  closely  are  they  intertwined.  And 
yet  most  teachers  have  a  strong  tendency  to  sepa- 
rate, widely,  thinking  in  the  concrete  from  thinking 
in  the  abstract.  It  is  this  tendency  to  produce  an  an- 
tagonism between  things,  which  in  their  very  nature 
should  be  inseparable  and  mutually  dependent,  that 
most  concerns  us  as  teachers. 

Some  people  attach  their  thinking  strongly  and  pre- 
dominantly to  objects  or  to  sense-images  based  on 
objects.  In  other  words,  they  are  very  concrete  and 
realistic  in  their  thinking.  Observation  and  experi- 
ence in  nature-study  and  in  industrial  arts  give  such 
sensory  training.  Other  persons  are  more  reflective, 
and  think  more  abstractly  and  in  general  terms. 
Grammar  and  algebra,  for  example,  are  generalizing 
or  abstract  studies. 

On  the  one  side,  children  and  poets  and  artists  deal 
in  pictures,  images,  colors,  impersonations.  Primary 
teachers  easily  develop  into  a  concrete,  realistic,  sense- 
imaginative  way  of  thinking  which  is  appropriate  to 
the  teaching  of  children.  On  the  other  side,  mathe- 
maticians, grammarians,  and  philosophers  are  sup- 
posed to  be  abstract   in    their  modes    of   thought. 


164    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

Teachers,  also,  in  the  upper  grades  and  higher  schools 
are  too  much  inclined  to  be  abstract  and  conceptual. 
Unfortunately,  most  of  our  textbooks  train  children 
in  abstract  phraseology.  The  word  "text,"  itself,  as 
in  a  sermon,  suggests  a  general  proverb  or  rule  of  ac- 
tion. Our  textbooks  are  made  up  largely  of  these  texts. 
They  are  condensed  or  generalized  statements,  mostly 
stripped  of  concrete  associations.  When  children  come 
upon  these  for  the  first  time,  they  have  not  the  concrete 
experience  with  which  to  interpret  them,  and,  unless 
the  teacher  is  an  artist  in  the  way  of  rich  concrete  illus- 
tration, they  are  troubled  and  muddled.  Teaching  is 
often  too  abstract.  Why  should  teachers  and  text- 
book makers  put  the  cart  before  the  horse  in  this  way? 
Why  not  begin  by  working  up  through  the  concrete 
and  bring  out  the  text  or  abstraction  at  the  end  as  a 
natural  outcome?  From  some  perverse  cause,  teachers, 
textbooks,  and  methods  of  teaching,  in  all  countries 
and  in  all  times,  begin  very  often  with  the  abstract, 
and  only  drift  back  at  times  into  the  concrete. 

In  the  history  of  education  in  Europe  and  America, 
the  reform  movement  for  centuries  has  been  a  vigorous 
and  constant  struggle  to  escape  from  abstract  and 
formal  studies.  In  order  to  get  children  over  into 
realism  the  great  reform  movements,  one  after  another, 
have  introduced  pictures,  objects,  models,  outdoor 
nature-study,  laboratory  experiment,  shop-work  in 
the  manual  arts,  the  school  garden  and  agriculture, 
physical  exercises  and  games.  This  movement  toward 
objects,  toward  realism  in  many  ways,  has  accumu- 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  165 

lated  a  great  energy  in  our  day.  Its  purpose  is  to  re- 
store the  proper  equilibrium  between  the  concrete  and 
the  abstract  in  our  thinking  processes.  The  theories 
of  the  psychologists  have  pointed  unmistakably  in 
the  same  direction,  i.e.,  to  a  greater  emphasis  of  the 
objective  and  experimental  in  the  earlier  stages  of 
every  subject.  In  spite  of  these  facts,  the  majority  of 
teachers  and  textbooks  are  still  held  firmly  to  abstract 
modes  of  teaching. 

This  insistent  and  overwhelming  demand  for  more 
concrete  and  realistic  teaching  is  in  no  respect  an 
objection  or  criticism  against  abstract  knowledge. 
All  of  our  thinking  must  rise,  sooner  or  later,  to  the 
full  abstract  or  conceptual  form.  Otherwise,  what  we 
learn  is  meaningless  and  worthless.  We  must  grow 
into  a  strong  grasp  of  general  notions  in  all  subjects, 
else  our  so-called  knowledge  is  shallow  and  unfruitful. 

The  teacher,  therefore,  should  carry  every  important 
topic  through  a  rich  concrete  line  of  experience.  When 
thought  has  generalized  itself  out  of  the  concrete,  it 
has  a  sound  basis.  Aristotle  discovered  this  safe  basis 
of  knowledge  many  centuries  ago.  Before  forming 
conclusions  on  government,  he  studied  carefully  in 
detail  the  constitutions  of  scores  of  Greek  and  Oriental 
States  as  a  basis  for  his  book  on  Politics.  The  careless 
and  indolent  thinker  likes  to  escape  from  this  long 
labor  of  collecting  and  comparing  data.  It  is  so  much 
easier  to  jump  at  sweeping  generalizations.  With 
children,  especially,  we  are  obliged  to  pile  up  concrete 
illustrations,  first  because  their  minds  naturally  cling 


166    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

to  the  material  object,  and  second,  because  they  can 
make  no  progress  without  it.  Philosophers  and  adults, 
who  have  already  accumulated  a  rich  store  of  lively 
experiences,  already  have  these  at  command  for  use. 
But  children  are  helpless  before  a  textbook  or  teacher 
who  deals  in  the  abstract.  This  happens  either  for 
lack  of  concrete  experiences,  or  because  they  are  un- 
able to  bring  their  experience  into  relation  to  the  new 
subject. 

Strange  to  say,  the  concrete  phases  of  study  can 
easily  be  overdone.  Examples  of  this  are  numerous. 
Children  brought  up  in  country  homes,  rich  in  the 
scenery  of  nature  and  farm  life,  show  little  interested 
attention  to  their  concrete  surroundings.  It  was  once 
supposed  that  if  children  were  only  surrounded  by 
active  nature  forces  and  objects,  they  would  easily 
respond.  They  need  a  teacher  to  introduce  them  to 
Dame  Nature.  Nature-study  in  field  and  laboratory 
has  not  produced  the  results  that  were  anticipated  a 
few  years  ago. 

In  teaching  arithmetic,  after  a  preliminary  concrete 
illustration  of  a  topic,  it  is  necessary  to  break  away 
from  the  concrete  and  master  number  facts  and  pro- 
cesses by  repeated  drills  for  swift  and  accurate  use. 
Children  should  not  be  allowed  to  dawdle  among  the 
concrete  facts,  counting  on  their  fingers,  when  the 
time  has  come  for  the  memory  to  fix  the  results  and 
deal  with  a  process  as  a  rule  of  action.  In  other  words, 
when  the  concrete  phase  of  a  topic  has  been  once  ade- 
quately presented,  we  must  at  once  swing  over  into 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  167 

a  new  line  of  effort,  namely,  the  mastery  of  processes 
and  principles  in  their  general  or  abstract  form.  Ap- 
plication again  to  the  concrete  follows  this  and  com- 
pletes the  circle  of  practical  action. 

Generalization  is  a  strong  thought  process.  It  is 
simply  a  way  of  allowing^ideas-i©  grow  and  take  on 
full  meaning.  It  is  a  condensation  of  facts  and  their 
meaning  into  a  process.  Ideas  spring  out  of  the  study 
of  the  concrete  and  develop  through  a  study  of  rela- 
tions and  by  comparisons.  No  amount  of  mere  con- 
crete observation  and  description  can  take  the  place 
of  this  generalizing  process  of  thought.  Generaliza- 
tions are  a  precipitate  from  a  thoughtful  dealing  with 
facts. 

The  more  we  study  into  these  so-called  concrete 
and  abstract  modes  of  thinking,  the  more  closely  do 
we  find  them  linked  together.  The  tendency  to  sepa- 
rate them  widely,  or  to  give  the  chief  emphasis  to  one 
or  to  the  other,  is  a  sure  sign  of  one-sidedness  and 
error,  especially  in  the  teacher.  The  lack  of  balance 
between  these  two  mutually  essential  elements  has 
been  the  cause  of  untold  error  and  countless  futile 
efforts  in  trying  to  teach.  The  classroom  teacher  must 
become  expert  in  the  rapid  movement  back  and  forth 
between  these  two  modes  of  thought.  It  is  well  enough 
for  the  teacher,  in  his  effort  to  understand  the  situa- 
tion as  to  the  relation  between  abstract  and  concrete 
thinking,  to  separate  them  by  psychological  analysis, 
and  then  to  remember  that  his  analysis  is  artificial. 
In  life  itself  and  in  the  process  of  learning  the  two  are 


168    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

combined.  The  teacher  should  reflect  upon  and  realize 
in  full  measure  the  necessity  for  both  these  elements 
and  for  an  incessant  interlocking  of  their  forces. 

Another  difficulty  that  we  must  keep  clearly  in 
mind  is  that,  as  children  grow  older  and  more  experi- 
enced in  thinking,  the  emphasis  can  be  transferred 
gradually  to  more  abstract  modes  of  thought.  The 
teacher's  skilled  and  experienced  judgment  will  be 
constantly  called  into  play  to  determine,  first,  the 
kind  of  concrete  illustration  needed  by  a  class  in  any 
subject  of  study,  and,  second,  their  capacity  for 
healthy  abstract  thought. 

The  difference  between  a  general  or  abstract  treat- 
ment of  topics,  such  as  is  common  in  textbooks,  and 
a  concrete  treatment  may  be  illustrated  by  the  fol- 
lowing quotations. 

One  of  the  recent  grammar-school  textbooks  in  his- 
tory speaks  of  the  Tories  in  the  Revolutionary  period, 
thus:  — 

The  Tories 

Washington  found  New  York  and  New  Jersey  full  of  To- 
ries —  men  who  did  not  want  independence  and  who  took 
sides  with  the  king.  In  every  State  there  were  some  men  of 
this  class.  The  ships  that  carried  Howe  away  from  Boston 
had  on  board  nine  hundred  Tories  from  Massachusetts.  Alto- 
gether about  one  fifth  of  the  people  of  the  States  belonged 
to  the  Tory  class.  In  the  Middle  States,  however,  the  class 
was  larger  than  it  was  in  any  other  section,  and  the  Tories 
around  New  York  did  what  they  could  to  annoy  Washington 
and  bring  disaster  upon  the  American  cause. 

The  following  story  illustrates  the  more  lively  con- 
crete mode  of  presenting  the  situation:  — 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  169 

Robert  Sallette  * 

In  Liberty  County,  Georgia,  there  lived,  during  the  Revo- 
lution, a  young  patriot  by  the  name  of  Robert  Sallette.  He 
was  noted  for  his  exploits  in  opposition  to  the  Tories.  His 
name  suggests  that  he  may  have  been  one  of  the  French 
Acadians  who  had  been  expelled  from  their  home  by  the 
English.  At  any  rate,  he  bore  no  love  to  the  English,  and 
they  had  good  cause  to  fear  him. 

It  is  not  known  with  certainty  to  what  division  or  company 
of  the  American  army  he  belonged.  He  appears  to  have  been 
a  sort  of  roving  character,  doing  things  in  his  own  way,  and 
engaged  from  time  to  time  in  the  most  reckless  adventures. 
His  very  name  was  such  a  terror  to  the  Tories  that  they  made 
plans  to  get  him  out  of  the  way.  One  of  the  Tories,  a  man  of 
considerable  wealth,  offered  a  reward  large  enough  to  tempt 
some  one  to  assassinate  the  daring  partisan.  No  ordinary 
man  would  dare  to  attack  Robert  Sallette  in  the  open. 

When  Sallette  heard  of  this  reward  which  was  placed  on 
his  head,  as  if  he  were  a  criminal  or  a  wild  beast,  he  thought 
he  would  try  to  even  up  scores  with  the  rich  Tory.  He  dis- 
guised himself  as  a  farmer  and  provided  himself  with  a  pump- 
kin, which  he  placed  in  a  bag.  With  the  bag  swinging  across 
his  shoulder  he  crossed  over  the  enemy's  lines  and  made  his 
way  to  the  house  of  the  Tory.  The  very  boldness  with  which 
he  walked  into  danger  took  away  suspicion. 

Walking  up  to  the  door  he  gave  the  knocker  a  sharp  rap 
and  was  invited  into  the  comfortable  sitting-room  of  the  Tory 
gentleman.  He  deposited  the  bag  on  the  floor  beside  him,  the 
pumpkin  striking  the  floor  with  a  thump. 

"I  have  brought  you  the  head  of  Robert  Sallette,"  said  he; 
"I  hear  that  you  have  offered  a  reward  of  one  hundred  guin- 
eas for  it." 

"Where  is  it?"  asked  the  Tory. 

"I  have  it  with  me,"  replied  Sallette  shaking  the  loose 
end  of  the  bag.  "Count  me  out  the  money  and  take  the 
head." 

The  Tory,  neither  doubting  nor  suspecting,  counted  out 
the  money  and  placed  it  on  the  table.  "Now,  show  me  the 

1  Adapted  from  Stories  of  Georgia,  by  Joel  Chandler  Harris. 


170    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

head,"  said  he.  Sallette  removed  his  hat,  tapped  himself  on 
the  forehead,  and  said,  "Here  is  the  head  of  Robert  Sallette." 
The  Tory  was  so  surprised  and  frightened  that  he  jumped 
from  his  seat  and  sprang  out  of  the  room,  without  waiting  to 
get  better  acquainted  with  Sallette.  The  latter  turned  to  the 
table,  pocketed  the  money,  and  then  quickly  departed.  He 
made  his  way  in  safety  back  to  his  friends. 

Three  or  four  such  stories  illustrative  of  the  con- 
flicts between  Whigs  and  Tories  in  the  South,  as  in 
Georgia,  in  the  Middle  Colonies,  and  in  New  England, 
would  give  children  a  vivid  sense  of  the  bitter  and  cruel 
struggle  between  the  two  parties.  This  could  then  be 
followed  by  the  more  general  and  comprehensive 
statement  given  above.  The  general  statement  given 
first  without  illustration  is  not  very  intelligible  to 
children  and  is  of  no  particular  interest  to  them.  The 
topic  is  an  important  one;  for  the  bitterness  and  long 
duration  of  the  war  were  largely  produced  by  the 
great  number  and  influence  of  the  Tories  or  Loyalists. 

The  solution  of  this  problem  of  properly  combining 
the  so-called  abstract  and  concrete  thought  materials 
in  instruction  is,  in  our  judgment,  vital  and  funda- 
mental. It  controls  the  selection  and  mode  of  treat- 
ment of  subject-matter  in  every  important  unit  of 
study.  Whether  we  are  dealing  with  a  process  in 
arithmetic,  an  idea  like  representative  government  in 
history,  a  geographical  topic  like  the  Erie  Canal,  or 
the  life  history  of  a  tree  or  animal  in  science,  the  main 
question  to  be  asked  may  be  thus  stated,  —  What 
facts,  illustrations,  and  other  concrete  data  must  be 
brought  together,  and  how  should  they  be  organized 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  171 

so  as  to  bring  out  the  general  notion  or  concept  at 
the  basis  of  the  topic? 

In  approaching  a  new  and  important  topic  in  any 
study  this  problem  of  choosing  and  grouping  the  il- 
lustrative facts  and  data  so  as  to  reveal  the  general 
truth  or  concept  meets  us  squarely  at  the  doorway 
and  must  be  dealt  with.  During  the  past  two  years, 
with  a  select  body  of  vigorous  and  earnest  teachers 
and  with  this  purpose  clearly  in  mind,  we  have  made 
the  attack  upon  a  considerable  number  of  large  topics 
in  several  school  studies,  our  purpose  being  to  give  to 
each  large  topic  an  adequate  treatment,  i.e.,  a  proper 
combination  of  concrete  and  abstract.  In  every  case, 
without  exception,  we  have  been  astonished  at  the 
magnitude  and  difficulty  of  the  undertaking.  We  have 
tried  such  topics,  for  example,  as  the  Erie  Canal,  the 
Congo  River,  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  the  White 
Mountains,  Irrigation  in  the  West,  the  Columbia 
River,  the  Desert  of  Sahara,  Steamboat  Navigation 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  the  Purchase  of  Louisiana 
and  Westward  Expansion,  the  Town  Meeting  and 
Self-Government  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  Bur- 
goyne's  Campaign,  etc.  In  each  case  the  difficulty 
consists  in#  determining  what  and  how  many  concrete 
data  are  needed  to  organize  it  so  as  fully  to  clarify  a 
definite  concept  or  general  notion.  In  each  case  this 
has  proved  to  be  a  strong  problem  demanding  first- 
class  ability  in  organization. 

Our  recent  writers  on  education  have  done  little  to 
help  us  upon  this  vital  and  very  difficult  point.  They 


172    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

have  given  us  no  end  of  general  psychological  advice 
about  the  concrete  and  the  abstract,  about  principles 
of  classroom  instruction,  but  they  never  apply  these 
principles  themselves  to  a  particular  topic.  This  has 
not  appealed  to  them  as  a  real  problem  for  the  thinker. 
It  seems  as  if  they  had  come  to  the  brink  of  a  chasm 
and  then  retreated  without  descending  into  its  depths. 
It  reminds  one  of  the  old  story  of  the  mice  proposing 
to  bell  the  cat. 

Our  experiments  with  this  problem  seem  to  result 
in  two  surprises,  pointing  out  the  main  difficulties. 
First,  it  requires  a  much  larger  collection  of  excellent 
concrete  or  illustrative  material  to  give  the  proper 
setting  and  illumination  for  an  important  concept 
than  we  had  supposed;  secondly,  the  organization  of 
these  concrete  data  so  as  to  give  a  strong  sequence  in 
the  progressive  thought  development  proved  difficult 
beyond  all  expectation. 

Writers  on  the  general  theory  of  education  and  on 
principles  of  class  instruction  have  commonly  assumed 
that  it  is  first  necessary  to  state  clearly  the  principles 
that  govern  in  school  instruction  and  then  leave  it  to 
class  teachers  to  apply  these  principles  to  any  partic- 
ular subject-matter.  The  result  seems  to  be  that  the 
general  theorist  never  gets  into  his  real  problem,  where 
the  main  difficulty  lies.  The  careful  selection  of  first- 
class  material  in  the  studies  and  the  adequate  organi- 
zation of  this  material  around  important  thought 
centers  so  as  to  get  all  the  needed  facts  and  data  into 
shape  before  the  actual  work  of  teaching  begins  is  a 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  173 

vital  problem  which  our  pure  theorists  have  not  even 
touched.  It  is  by  the  practical  solution  of  these  def- 
inite units  of  study  worked  out  in  subject-matter,  and 
by  this  alone,  that  we  can  determine  the  proper  com- 
bination of  the  concrete  and  abstract  in  class  instruc- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  classroom  teachers  have  not 
been  able  to  solve  this  problem  for  several  reasons: 

(1)  they  are  lacking  in  a  knowledge  of  sound  theory; 

(2)  they  are  lacking  in  the  detailed  knowledge  neces- 
sary for  a  rich  and  fruitful  concrete  treatment  of  big 
topics;  (3)  the  textbooks  and  prevailing  modes  of 
instruction  mislead  them  as  to  the  amount  of  concrete 
data  necessary  to  the  adequate  treatment  of  a  topic; 
(4)  they  are  not  trained  in  this  difficult  art  of  organi- 
zation. The  result  is  that  one  of  the  most  vital  and 
difficult  practical  problems  at  the  very  basis  of  our 
actual  school  work  has  been  neglected,  or  to  say  the 
least,  very  inadequately  worked  out. 

The  development  of  our  whole  course  of  study  is 
halted  at  this  point  for  the  present,  waiting  for  some 
one  to  step  in,  endowed  with  a  double  portion  of  com- 
bined theoretical  and  practical  sense,  who  will  attack 
this  difficult  problem  in  the  schoolroom  and  in  the 
very  subject-matter  of  school  studies.  A  complete, 
rich,  and  detailed  or  concrete  knowledge  of  the  im- 
portant topics  in  school  studies  will  be  an  indispensable 
equipment.  In  this  serious  matter  our  theories  have 
fallen  short,  and  they  will  continue  to  fall  short. 
Somebody  must  roll  up  his  sleeves  and  come  into  close 
quarters  with  the  full  subject-matter  of  studies  in  the 


174    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

classroom  with  children,  i.e.,  with  all  the  facts  and 
realities  before  him.  In  this  way  an  intelligent  and 
resourceful  teacher  and  thinker  may  find  out  what  the 
trouble  is  with  our  present  course  of  study.  He  may 
also  find  the  remedy.  In  this  way  we  may  strike  at 
the  center  of  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  important 
problems  in  actual  instruction,  i.e.,  the  proper  com- 
bination between  the  concrete,  illustrative  facts,  and 
the  central  ideas  or  concepts  around  which  these  facts 
must  be  organized. 

Illustrations  of  too  abstract  modes  of  teaching 

1.  There  is  a  marked  contrast  between  the  usual  con- 
densed textbooks  in  history  and  geography,  and  the 
supplementary  readers  in  the  same  subjects.  The 
latter  are  filled  up  with  interesting,  picturesque  de- 
tails and  illustrations  in  a  lively  style,  often  sea- 
soned with  humor  and  personal  traits,  curious  social 
customs,  and  things  which  are  even  outlandish  and 
remarkable.  The  great  demand  for  such  lively  sup- 
plementary material  is  a  direct  proof  that  the  text- 
books are  dull  and  abstract  and  need  a  reinforce- 
ment of  the  concrete. 

2.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the  fact  that  dry  sermoniz- 
ing on  abstract  theological  subjects  causes  the 
church  pews  to  remain  empty.  Successful  clergy- 
men, on  the  contrary,  abandon  purely  doctrinal  ser- 
mons and  illustrate  great  scriptural  truths  freely 
from  modern  life,  from  good  and  evil  as  seen  in  busi- 
ness, on  the  streets  of  cities,  in  travel,  and  in  home 
and  school. 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  175 

3.  We  now  find  it  necessary  to  collect  physical  maps, 
pictures,  stereographs,  lantern  slides,  typical  prod- 
ucts of  foreign  lands,  museum  collections,  science 
materials,  and  a  great  variety  of  illustrative  con- 
crete material  for  the  purpose  of  reinforcing  the  too 
abstract  textbook  matter.  In  the  same  way  drama- 
tization is  designed  to  strengthen  studies  inliterature. 

4.  We  often  notice  a  strong  tendency  in  adults  to 
think  in  abstractions  and  to  discourse  about  things 
from  the  standpoint  of  their  matured  experience. 
Many  preachers  cannot  talk  successfully  to  children 
for  this  reason.  Even  the  appropriate  language 
fails  them  for  expressing  their  thought  to  children. 

5.  Pedagogical  writers  are  in  most  cases  needlessly 
abstract,  almost  as  if  they  were  determined  to  give 
teachers  a  standing  and  unmistakable  illustration  of 
wrong  modes  of  teaching;  e.g.,  Rosenkranz,  Froe- 
bel,  and  Herbart  among  the  Germans.  Some  of  our 
leading  American  writers  are  likewise  abstract  in 
style.  In  many  cases  these  writers  are  so  abstract  in 
their  thought  processes  as  to  require  an  interpreter. 
Educational  writers  ought  not  to  make  this  mistake, 
because  they  thus  strengthen  and  perpetuate  some 
of  the  common  mistakes  and  blunders  of  teachers. 

Examples  of  excessive  emphasis  upon  the  concrete 

1.  In  primary  reading  bright-colored  pictures  are 
sometimes  used  so  profusely  as  to  draw  children's 
attention  away  from  the  essentials  of  reading,  word- 
study,  phonic  drills,  etc. 


176    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

2.  In  primary  number  work  children  are  sometimes 
kept  too  long  working  with  blocks,  splints,  and 
counting-material.  They  should  soon  lay  these 
objects  aside  and  think  and  memorize  number  facts 
and  relations. 

3.  Public  lecturers  sometimes  overload  their  addresses 
with  anecdotes  and  humorous  episodes  to  the  neg- 
lect of  more  serious  thought. 

4.  Boys  and  girls  frequently  become  absorbed  in  the 
reading  of  interesting  and  lively  story-books,  such 
as  the  Henty  books,  the  Alger  books,  and  others  of 
like  character,  to  the  neglect  of  their  more  serious 
studies  and  of  other  books  requiring  vigorous  think- 
ing. Even  adults  sometimes  dissipate  their  thought 
energy  too  much  by  reading  in  a  hasty  and  careless 
way  for  mere  entertainment. 

5.  Our  modern  picture  shows  give  us  a  strong  illustra- 
tion of  the  excessive  use  of  the  concrete  in  spectacu- 
lar displays,  rapid  movement,  exciting  dramatic 
action,  and  often  on  trivial  subjects.  The  picture 
show,  properly  organized  to  illustrate  and  bring  out 
the  sense  of  important  topics  in  geography,  history, 
and  social  life,  is  very  valuable. 

Examples  of  a  proper  balance  between  concrete  and 
abstract  modes  of  thought 

1.  A  poem  like  the  Village  Blacksmith  of  Longfellow, 
Bryant's  Waterfowl,  Lowell's  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal, 
Browning's  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin.  The  universal 
popularity  of  such  selections  as  adapted  to  school 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  177 

purposes  is  proof  of  the  right  combination  of  these 
elements.  Great  writers  in  their  best  books  are  apt 
to  hit  this  combination. 

2.  In  the  Book  of  Proverbs  the  most  striking  and  inter- 
esting passage  is  the  description  of  a  virtuous  wo- 
man in  the  last  chapter  It  is  in  fact  a  remarkable 
poetical  picture,  beautiful  in  its  simplicity  and  con- 
creteness,  one  of  the  distinctive  products  of  great 
world  literature.  The  Proverbs,  themselves,  though 
keenly  significant  to  adults,  are  less  concrete  and 
effective.  The  same  judgment  may  be  passed  upon 
the  last  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes,  which  contains 
the  remarkable  poetical  imagery  descriptive  of 
old  age. 

3.  In  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  including  the  parables,  the 
conversations  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  we 
find  a  combination  of  the  simplest  concrete  illus- 
trations and  profound  truths  such  as  can  scarcely  be 
discovered  elsewhere  in  literature. 

4.  The  use  of  biographical  stories  of  American  history 
in  intermediate  and  grammar  grades  is  a  superior 
means  of  combining  the  concrete  of  individual 
experience  with  the  great  representative  ideas.  In 
the  personal  experiences  and  character  of  William 
Penn,  we  find  the  embodiment  of  the  commanding 
ideas  of  liberty  of  conscience  and  religious  toleration; 
John  Winthrop  is  a  type  of  intelligent  Puritanism; 
Samuel  Adams  is  the  impersonation  of  the  spirit  of 
'76;  Webster  was  the  representative  of  the  great 
idea  of  unity  among  the  States.   These  and  other 


178    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

striking  characters  make  historical  ideas  real  and 
significant  to  us. 

The  following  narrative  of  the  plans  and  efforts  for  putting 
steamboats  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  shows  how 
much  descriptive  and  concrete  material  is  needed  in  order  to 
bring  out  the  full  meaning  of  such  a  topic. 

STEAMBOATING  ON  THE  OHIO  AND  MISSISSIPPI  RIVERS 

Outline  of  topics 

1.  Fulton  and  the  Clermont. 

2.  The  problem  of  putting  steamboats  on  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Rivers. 

3.  Fulton  and  Livingston  send  Roosevelt  down  the  Ohio  on  a 
flatboat. 

4.  Roosevelt's  report  and  the  building  of  the  New  Orleans. 

5.  Roosevelt's  trip  by  steamboat  from  Pittsburg  to  Louis- 
ville. 

6.  Passing  the  falls  and  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans. 

7.  Growth  of  steamboat  traffic  on  the  Western  rivers. 

8.  Development  of  shipping  in  the  Great  Lakes.  Compari- 
sons. 

1.  Robert  Fulton,  the  inventor  of  steamboats,  had  his 
early  triumph  on  the  Hudson  River.  After  his  first  success  in 
building  the  Clermont,  the  steamboat  which  made  the  fam- 
ous voyage  from  New  York  to  Albany,  in  1807,  Fulton  began 
to  think  of  building  steamboats  for  the  Western  rivers. . 

2.  The  Mississippi  and  its  large  branches,  the  Ohio  and 
Missouri,  offered  a  far  larger  and  more  important  system  of 
navigation  for  steamboats  than  the  Hudson  and  other  small 
rivers  in  the  East.  Fulton  knew  that  if  he  could  put  steam- 
boats on  the  Mississippi,  the  results  would  be  of  immense 
importance  for  commerce.  Heavy  freight  was  easily  floated 
down  the  Mississippi  from  Ohio,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  etc.,  on 
flatboats,  but,  on  account  of  the  swift  current,  these  boats 
could  not  be  sent  back  upstream.  The  only  way  to  ship 
freight  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans  was  by  keel-boats, 
which  were  poled  upstream,  slowly  and  with  great  difficulty, 
by  keel-boatmen.  It  was  a  slow  and  expensive  method. 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  179 

The  difficulty  of  propelling  a  steamboat  against  the  swift 
current  of  the  Ohio  or  Mississippi  was  also  much  greater  than 
on  the  Hudson.  There  is  but  little  current  on  the  Hudson  on 
account  of  the  tide  which  rises  daily  nearly  to  Albany.  In- 
deed, it  was  very  doubtful  whether  the  steamboat  could  make 
headway  at  all  against  the  swift  and  powerful  currents  found 
in  many  parts  of  the  Western  rivers.  It  would  be  a  very 
expensive  and  doubtful  undertaking  to  build  the  first  steam- 
vessel  to  try  its  chances  in  such  waters.  The  cost  would  be 
about  forty  thousand  dollars,  and  people  were  not  in  haste  to 
spend  so  large  a  sum  in  such  an  uncertain  project.  The  en- 
gines required  would  be  much  more  powerful  and  costly. 
Machine  shops  for  building  engines  and  boats  for  such  work 
were  not  then  found  along  the  Western  rivers. 

3.  Mr.  Fulton  and  Mr.  Robert  Livingston,  of  New  York, 
who  had  worked  together  in  building  and  launching  the  Cler- 
mont, decided  to  make  a  careful  examination  of  the  currents 
of  the  Western  rivers  before  entering  upon  the  project  of 
building  the  first  steamboat  for  the  Ohio. 

In  the  spring  of  1809,  they  sent  Mr.  Nicholas  Roosevelt  to 
Pittsburg,  with  instructions  to  make  a  voyage  down  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  study  the  currents,  eddies, 
sandbars,  and  other  obstructions  of  navigation,  and  report  to 
them  later  the  actual  difficulties  to  be  met. 

Early  in  the  spring  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  his  young  wife 
reached  Pittsburg,  where  he  at  once  began  the  building  of  a 
flatboat  with  which  to  make  the  journey  down  the  rivers. 
When  it  was  completed,  they  embarked  for  a  long  and  tedi- 
ous journey  of  six  months  to  New  Orleans.  Mrs.  Roosevelt 
describes  it  as  follows :  — 

"The  journey  in  the  flatboat  commenced  at  Pittsburg, 
where  Mr.  Roosevelt  had  it  built.  There  was  a  huge  box  con- 
taining a  comfortable  bedroom,  dining-room,  pantry,  and  a 
room  in  front  for  the  crew,  with  a  fireplace  where  the  cooking 
was  done.  The  top  of  the  boat  was  flat,  with  seats  and  an 
awning.  We  had  on  board  a  pilot,  three  hands,  and  a  man 
cook.  We  always  stopped  at  night,  lashing  the  boat  to  the 
shore.  The  rowboat  was  a  large  one,  in  which  Mr.  Roosevelt 
went  out  constantly  with  two  or  three  of  the  men  to  ascertain 
the  rapidity  of  the  ripples  or  current.  It  was  in  this  rowboat 
we  went  from  Natchez  to  New  Orleans  with  the  same  crew. 


180    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

We  reached  New  Orleans  about  the  1st  of  December,  1809, 
and  took  passage  for  New  York  in  the  first  vessel  we  found 
ready  to  sail." 

At  Cincinnati  and  Louisville  and  other  cities  Mr.  Roose- 
velt was  received  in  the  most  friendly  manner.  But  when  he 
explained  to  the  merchants  and  business  men  his  purpose  of 
building  a  steamboat  to  travel  up  and  down  these  rivers,  they 
could  not  help  smiling  at  such  a  foolish  notion.  The  old  pi- 
lots and  boatmen  who  had  spent  their  lives  on  the  great  river 
and  knew  by  hard  experience  all  its  freakish  ways,  made  it 
plain  that  they  considered  Mr.  Roosevelt  an  escaped  lunatic. 
But  he  went  on  about  his  business  without  heeding  their  jokes. 
He  even  made  contracts  with  men  along  the  river,  who  owned 
coal-mines,  to  pile  up  coal  on  the  banks  at  various  points  for 
use  by  the  steamboat  which  he  proposed  to  build  the  follow- 
ing year  at  Pittsburg. 

4.  When  he  got  back  to  New  York  and  laid  a  full  report 
before  Mr.  Fulton  and  Mr.  Livingston,  they  all  agreed  that  a 
steamboat  could  be  built  to  travel  both  ways,  up  and  down 
stream,  on  the  Mississippi.  Mr.  Fulton  worked  out  complete 
plans  and  all  the  details  for  the  construction  of  the  boat,  and 
for  the  building  of  the  engines.  Having  studied  out  these 
plans  with  great  care,  and  with  full  advice  from  Mr.  Fulton, 
early  in  the  spring  of  1910,  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  his  wife  went 
to  Pittsburg. 

He  at  once  made  preparations  for  the  difficult  work  of 
constructing  the  first  steamboat  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi. 
At  a  level  spot  below  the  bluff  by  the  river-bank,  and  near  an 
iron  foundry,  he  laid  down  the  keel  of  the  new  vessel.  The 
boat  was  to  be  one  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  long,  with  a 
twenty -foot  beam,  and  the  engines  were  made  more  power- 
ful than  for  the  Clermont  on  the  Hudson,  because  of  the 
strong  current  on  Western  rivers.  There  was  no  suitable 
lumber  at  Pittsburg  for  such  ship  construction,  so  workmen 
were  sent  up  the  river  to  cut  down  trees  from  the  forest  and 
find  the  ribs,  knees,  and  beams  required.  The  logs  were 
floated  down  the  river  to  the  shipyard,  where  they  were 
sawed  up  into  boards  and  timbers  in  the  old-fashioned  saw- 
pits.  They  did  not  wait  for  these  timbers  to  become  sea- 
soned. Ship  carpenters  and  machinists  had  been  brought  from 
New  York,  as  there  were  no  workmen  at  Pittsburg  who  could 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  181 

do  this  kind  of  ship-building.  Pittsburg  at  this  time  did  not 
have  suitable  shops  for  doing  the  required  ironwork. 

Several  floods  in  the  river  at  Pittsburg  covered  the  ship- 
yards and  nearly  floated  the  new  boat  into  the  river  before 
it  was  finished.  But  in  spite  of  all  difficulties,  the  vessel  was 
completed  in  September,  1811,  and  launched.  The  name 
"New  Orleans"  was  given  her,  but  many  people  feared  she 
would  never  reach  the  city  of  that  name. 

Mrs.  Roosevelt,  in  spite  of  the  fears  and  forebodings  of  her 
friends,  was  determined  to  go  on  the  first  voyage  down  the 
river  with  her  husband.  Her  friends  were  so  anxious  to  pre- 
vent her  from  going  upon  this  dangerous  voyage  that  they 
threatened  to  imprison  her  and  keep  her  safe  till  the  boat 
had  departed. 

5.  After  a  trial  trip  in  the  Monongahela,  in  which  the  little 
steamer  moved  upstream  and  was  easily  managed  in  the  cur- 
rent, a  crew  of  fifteen  people,  including  captain,  engineer, 
pilot,  cook,  and  workmen,  was  secured,  and  they  embarked 
for  the  trip  to  New  Orleans.  A  great  crowd  on  the  banks 
cheered  them  as  they  started,  and  soon  the  boat  was  making 
eight  or  ten  miles  an  hour  downstream.  The  engines  worked 
smoothly,  and  the  boat  was  easily  guided  in  the  current  by 
the  pilot  at  the  wheel.  " Mr.  Roosevelt  was  too  much  excited 
to  sleep  on  the  first  night  of  the  voyage,  but  paced  the  deck 
or  stood  or  sat  near  the  pilot  from  evening  until  morning." 
The  second  day  they  reached  Cincinnati  and  were  greeted  by 
old  acquaintances  made  in  their  former  flatboat  trip.  "Well, 
you  are  as  good  as  your  word,"  said  some  of  the  visitors,"you 
have  come  in  a  steamboat,  but  we  see  you  for  the  last  time. 
Your  boat  may  go  down  the  river,  but  as  to  coming  up  it,  the 
very  idea  is  an  absurdity."  x  On  the  fourth  day  out  from 
Pittsburg  they  reached  Louisville,  where  a  public  dinner  was 
given  them,  although  most  people  believed  that  it  was  the 
last  steamboat  that  would  be  seen  on  the  upper  Ohio. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  also  gave  a  dinner  on  the  boat.  "While  the 
feast  was  at  its  height  there  was  a  rumbling  that  brought 
everybody  to  his  feet  and  caused  a  rush  to  the  deck.  All  the 
guests  thought  the  steamer  had  escaped  from  her  anchor  and 
was  drifting  towards  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  where  everybody 

1  Knox,  Life  of  Robert  Fulton. 


182    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

would  be  lost.  Their  dismay  was  changed  to  pleasure  when 
they  found  she  was  steaming  up  the  river,  and  as  she  warmed 
to  her  work  and  increased  her  speed,  they  found  themselves 
carried  more  rapidly  than  they  had  ever  traveled  before  on 
water.  Many  of  the  incredulous  were  thus  convinced  of  the 
success  of  their  enterprise,  and  faith  in  the  steamboat  was 
greatly  increased.1 

At  this  time  the  Ohio  was  at  low-water  stage,  and  boats 
could  not  pass  over  the  falls  at  Louisville.  They  were  thus 
compelled  to  wait  for  a  rise  of  water  in  the  river.  During  this 
period  of  waiting,  Mr.  Roosevelt  took  a  return  voyage  up  the 
river  to  Cincinnati.  When  the  steamboat  reached  Cincinnati, 
the  people  were  still  more  astonished,  as  they  now  perceived 
that  such  a  vessel  could  steam  up  the  river  against  the  current. 

6.  Returning  to  Louisville,  a  rise  of  the  water  in  November 
made  the  passage  of  the  boat  down  the  rapids  and  falls  pos- 
sible. But  it  was  dangerous,  as  there  were  but  five  inches' 
depth  to  spare.  They  engaged  a  special  pilot,  and  putting  on 
all  steam,  made  a  swift  dash  over  the  falls.  "Rocks  rose  on 
either  side  of  the  channel,  the  water  dashed  in  spray  on  the 
deck  of  the  boat,  and  sometimes  the  New  Orleans  seemed  to 
pitch  forward,  as  though  about  to  be  swallowed  up.  Every 
one  grasped  some  part  of  the  boat  for  safety,  and  even  the 
big  Newfoundland  dog  shook  with  terror  as  he  crouched  at 
the  feet  of  Mr.  Roosevelt.  It  was  'une  mauvaise  quart 
d'heure,'  as  the  French  say,  but  it  was  well  and  swiftly  over. 
The  danger  was  passed  and  the  New  Orleans  rounded  to  at 
the  foot  of  the  falls,  where  they  discharged  the  pilot  who  had 
accompanied  them  through  the  dangerous  channel." 

According  to  the  agreement  of  the  year  before,  Mr.  Roose- 
velt found  the  coal  ready,  "and  took  on  as  much  as  the  boat 
would  carry.  When  this  was  exhausted,  he  took  in  wood 
wherever  he  could  find  it.  At  least  once  in  twenty-four  hours 
the  boat  stopped  for  wood;  there  were  no  wood -yards  then 
as  in  later  days,  and  in  nearly  every  instance  the  work  of 
cutting  and  preparing  the  desired  fuel  was  performed  by  the 
crew." 

Before  reaching  the  Mississippi  they  were  disturbed  by  the 
earthquakes  which  shook  the  region  south  of  Cairo  on  both 

1  Knox,  Life  of  Robert  Fulton. 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  183 

sides  of  the  river  in  the  fall  of  1811.  The  earthquake  shocks 
continued  for  many  days  and  nights.  A  comet  was  also  seen 
in  the  sky  and  the  people  were  afraid  and  superstitious.  "At 
some  places  where  the  boat  stopped  for  wood,  the  Indians 
came  out  and  talked,  by  signs  and  a  few  words  of  English, 
with  the  men.  They  seemed  to  believe  that  the  steamboat 
had  some  connection  with  the  comet,  as  the  sparks  from  the 
chimney  bore  a  marked  resemblance  to  its  fiery  tail.  They 
also  attributed  the  smoky  atmosphere  to  the  steamer,  and 
thought  the  earthquake  was  caused  by  the  beating  of  the 
paddles."  » 

In  spite  of  all  these  fears  and  difficulties  the  New  Orleans 
made  its  course  successfully  down  the  river  to  Natchez  and 
then  to  New  Orleans.  It  was  then  put  on  regular  runs  back 
and  forth  between  Natchez  and  New  Orleans,  and  was  the 
first  steamboat  to  make  regular  trips  on  the  Mississippi.  It 
was  soon  followed  by  other  steamers. 

7.  The  Enterprise  was  the  first  steamboat  to  make  the 
whole  journey  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans  to  Pittsburg  in 
1815.  It  was  an  event  for  public  rejoicing  at  Louisville  and 
Pittsburg.  During  the  next  twenty  years  steamboats  became 
numerous  not  only  on  the  Ohio,  Mississippi,  and  Missouri 
Rivers,  but  on  many  smaller  tributary  streams  in  the 
West.  The  boats  were  flat-bottomed  and  had  a  light  draft 
— in  smaller  steamboats,  not  more  than  a  foot  and  a  half. 
Steamboat  traffic  on  the  Western  rivers  was  at  its  height  be- 
tween 1850  and  1860.  At  that  time  there  were  more  than 
eight  hundred  steamboats  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tribu- 
taries. The  largest  of  them  could  carry  a  cargo  of  three 
thousand  tons  besides  several  hundred  passengers. 

After  the  Civil  War,  steamboat  traffic  on  these  rivers  de- 
creased and  in  the  last  few  years  has  been  unimportant.  At 
the  same  time  the  railroad  traffic  has  greatly  increased  and 
has  largely  taken  the  place  of  water  traffic. 

8.  On  the  Great  Lakes  the  first  steamboat  appeared  at 
Buffalo  in  1818.  It  was  called  "The  Walk-in-the-Water." 
In  1832  the  first  steamboat  reached  Chicago.  With  the 
opening  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  1825  the  commerce  of  the  Great 
Lakes  rapidly  increased.  It  has  gone  on  increasing  from  year 

1  Knox,  Life  of  Robert  Fulton. 


184    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

to  year  till  it  is  now  of  vast  importance.  The  vessels  on  the 
Great  Lakes  have  a  deep  draft  like  those  on  the  ocean  and 
are  built  of  steel  and  iron  like  those  in  the  ocean  trade. 

The  products  carried  on  the  Great  Lake  vessels  are  chiefly 
iron  ore,  lumber,  grain,  and  coal,  and  an  extensive  passenger 
traffic  has  grown  up  in  the  summer-time.  At  Detroit,  Cleve- 
land, and  other  Lake  ports  extensive  shipbuilding  yards  have 
been  established  and  a  large  number  of  big  lake  vessels  are 
turned  out  every  year. 

It  is  of  interest  to  consider  why  water  traffic  has  continued 
to  increase  rapidly  on  the  Great  Lakes  while  it  has  almost 
disappeared  on  the  rivers. 

References. 

Robert  Fulton.   Biography  by  T.  W.  Knox.  Putnam  &  Son. 
Robert  Fulton,  by  R.  H.  Thurston.  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co. 
Life  on  the  Mississippi.  Mark  Twain.  Harpers. 
The  Story  of  Illinois.  Nida.  O.  P.  Barnes,  Chicago. 
From  Trail  to  Railway.  Brigham.  Ginn  &  Co. 

II.   FORM  AND   CONTENT 

The  old  saying  "the  letter  killeth  but  the  spirit  giv- 
eth  life"  expresses  the  sharpest  contrast  between  the 
two  things  about  which  the  schoolmaster  is  deeply  con- 
cerned. All  thought  must  express  itself  in  some  form 
or  come  to  nothing,  and  a  form  that  expresses  no 
thought  is  worthless.  Thought  and  form,  therefore, 
should  always  be  found  close  together  if  not  in  absolute 
union.  A  complete  divorce  between  the  two  is  im- 
possible. 

Man  has  invented  and  slowly  brought  to  perfection 
the  forms  or  symbols  through  which  he  now  expresses 
his  thought.  First  of  all  is  language  in  its  many  phases. 
The  formal  systems  for  expressing  ideas  are  among  the 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  185 

most  remarkable  products  of  man's  invention,  as  alpha- 
bets in  writing  or  print,  notation  in  mathematics  and 
in  music,  chemical  symbolism,  short-hand,  punctua- 
tion, etc.  So  indispensable  are  these  forms  or  symbols 
in  all  thinking,  and  in  communicating  thought,  that 
great  importance  has  been  attached  to  their  mastery 
and  proper  use.  Practical  people  and  business  men 
have  come  to  judge  a  child's  success  in  learning  largely 
by  his  mastery  and  use  of  symbols.  It  is  not  strange 
that  some  schoolmasters  followed  this  lead  and  gave 
undue  emphasis  to  the  mere  forms  and  symbols  of 
knowledge.  The  ability  to  write  and  spell  and  read  and 
cipher  was  long  regarded  as  the  essential  part  of  an 
education.  But  this  tendency  to  the  mastery  of  forms 
and  of  formal  arts  can  be  easily  overdone. 

The  history  of  schools  and  of  courses  of  study  during 
the  last  three  hundred  years  demonstrates  a  constant 
and  powerful  tendency  toward  one-sided  formalism, 
especially  toward  linguistic  forms,  grammar,  etc.  The 
reformers  have  fought  against  this  narrow  routine,  and 
in  recent  years  with  increasing  success.  There  has 
been,  thus,  an  age-long  quarrel  between  those  who 
favor  studies  of  a  formal  type  and  those  demanding 
a  rich  thought  content  in  school  subjects.  Whole  sys- 
tems of  education  have  been  strongly  tagged  with  one 
or  the  other  of  these  features.  In  all  sound  education 
one  would  naturally  think  that  these  two  essential  ele- 
ments, form  and  thought,  should  be  closely  combined, 
and  we  may  well  be  disappointed  at  this  universal 
tendency  in  schools  to  run  to  extremes  and  to  separate 


186    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

them  as  if  they  were  hostile  to  each  other.  In  all 
studies  a  close  combination  of  these  two  elements 
should  be  earnestly  sought.  In  superior  literature  and 
in  fine  art,  the  two  elements  are  well  balanced  and  com- 
bined. The  perfection  which  is  the  supreme  quality  in 
literature  and  art  is  the  masterly  union  of  form  and 
thought.  In  human  behavior  at  its  best,  we  likewise 
find  this  intimate  blending  of  idea  and  form,  whose 
proper  combination  gives  us  good  manners.  The  ideal 
result  to  be  aimed  at  in  all  conduct  is,  as  far  as  practi- 
cable, a  proper  blending  of  form  and  thought. 

The  older  course  of  study  known  to  our  fathers,  by 
its  emphasis  of  reading,  writing,  spelling,  arithmetic, 
and  grammar,  was  predominantly  formal;  our  recent 
course  has  been  growing  richer  in  the  thought  content 
of  literature,  geography,  history,  and  of  science,  with 
perhaps  some  neglect  of  form.  On  the  question  as  to 
the  relative  values  of  the  older  formal  studies  and  of  the 
newer  thought  studies,  educators  have  been  at  vari- 
ance. The  conservatives  emphasize  the  traditional 
form  studies,  and  are  suspicious  of  the  new  subjects. 
Progressive  teachers  have  thrown  themselves  with  zeal 
into  the  superior  thought  content  of  the  new  studies, 
and  sometimes  ridicule  the  small  pedantry  of  the  old 
spelling,  writing,  reading,  and  grammar. 

In  the  actual  practice  of  the  schools  a  sharp  conflict 
of  opinion  still  prevails  as  to  whether  form  or  content 
should  take  the  lead  in  the  early  teaching  of  reading, 
singing,  writing,  map-drawing,  and  language.  Some 
still  insist  that  the  elementary  forms  must  be  first  mas- 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  187 

tered,  and  that  a  separate  period  of  preliminary  drill 
must  be  allowed  to  the  mastery  of  these  symbols  and 
forms.  In  their  opinion,  the  transition  to  richer  thought 
material  comes  later.  Others  have  insisted  that  inter- 
esting and  valuable  thought  must  predominate  from 
the  beginning,  and  that  the  necessary  forms  and  sym- 
bols can  be  taken  up  and  absorbed  incidentally  into  the 
thought  studies.  Thus  isolated  and  preliminary  drills 
on  forms  are  not  necessary.  A  large  amount  of  ingen- 
uity has  been  expended  by  primary  teachers  and  by 
thoughtful  experts  in  pedagogical  science  in  illustrating 
the  two  sides  of  this  controversy.  The  two  views  have 
been  drawing  closer  together  and  form  and  thought 
have  been  brought  to  a  more  intimate  relation.  The 
result  so  far  is  not  a  decisive  victory  on  either  side,  al- 
though great  progress  has  been  made  toward  the 
thought  enrichment  of  primary  studies.  Some  of  the 
crude,  old-fashioned  formal  drills  have  disappeared. 
At  the  present  moment  improved  formal  drills  are 
maintaining  themselves  with  good  success  in  the 
schools.  These  formal  exercises  are  being  systematized 
and  reduced  to  their  lowest  terms.  At  the  same  time 
vigorous  thought  matter  is  brought  into  the  closest  pos- 
sible relation  to  these  essential  drills.  When  the  formal 
element  has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum,  —  e.g.,  when 
we  get  phonetic  spelling,  giving  a  child  independence 
in  learning  to  read,  —  there  will  still  remain  a  difficulty 
in  adjusting  form  to  thought,  demanding  skill  upon  the 
part  of  the  teachers. 

This  controversy  between  the  opposing  advocates 


188    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

of  thought  and  form  is  a  basal  difficulty  that  extends 
into  all  studies  in  higher  and  lower  schools.  For  exam- 
ple, the  question  is  constantly  rising,  Shall  we  require 
children  to  use  correct  forms  in  English  in  all  studies 
when  they  recite?  On  this  point  teachers  always  fall 
into  dispute.  It  does  not  seem  possible  to  give  this 
question  a  final  and  positive  answer,  because  it  is  a 
matter  of  close  and  tactful  adjustment.  Good  English 
is  a  thing  to  be  striven  for  in  every  recitation,  but  care- 
ful teachers  are  willing  to  overlook  some  errors  of 
speech  if  they  can  get  children  to  think  vigorously  and 
to  speak,  in  the  main,  correctly.  The  standard  of  excel- 
lence must  be  relative  and  changing.  Children  are  in 
the  process  of  attaining  power  of  thought  and  of  lan- 
guage fit  for  its  expression.  It  must  be  more  or  less  a 
field  of  compromise  and  ready  adjustment,  and  the 
teacher  is  called  upon  to  mediate  constantly  between 
the  two  requirements  of  correct  thought  and  correct 
speech.  The  teacher  is  not  the  one  who  should  take 
extreme  grounds  on  either  side  of  this  issue.  Perfection 
is  not  gained  at  one  bound,  but  by  steady,  persistent, 
and  reasonable  pressure  on  both  points. 

The  history  of  education  shows  that  educators  at 
times  have  gone  to  a  ridiculous  extreme  on  the  one  side 
of  formalism,  illustrated  by  Latin  as  treated  in  second- 
ary schools.  In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  decided 
swing  of  the  pendulum  in  the  opposite  direction  and  a 
consequent  neglect  of  form.  As  a  result  correctness 
and  purity  of  speech  are  not  a  mark  of  our  times.  The 
tendency  toward  formalism  is  a  marked  trait  of  human 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  189 

nature  in  law  and  religion  as  well  as  in  education. 
Religion  flows  into  creeds  and  rituals  and  formal  pat- 
terns of  worship.  Christianity  has  found  it  necessary, 
in  order  to  save  itself  from  lifeless  formalism,  to  return 
again  and  again  to  the  original  sources  of  spiritual 
power  and  to  break  up  old  forms.  Law  ever  has  a 
tendency  to  petrify  into  a  series  of  precedents,  fixed 
statutes,  and  constitutions.  But  the  basis  of  both 
religion  and  law  is  a  spiritual  energy  which  constantly 
modifies  the  old  forms  and  recasts  them  into  the  new. 
Good  government  must  constantly  provide  for  a  read- 
justment of  old  forms  and  constitutions  to  the  new  and 
growing  spirit  of  the  times.  Education  must  daily 
redeem  itself  from  this  tendency  toward  formalism. 
While  the  teacher,  therefore,  should  thoroughly  disci- 
pline children  in  the  correct  forms  of  expression,  his 
business  is  first  of  all  to  arouse  thought,  to  vitalize  a 
child's  mind  with  ideas.  The  two  must  be  worked  in 
constant  relation  to  each  other  and  brought  into  a 
strong  unity,  because  neither  can  be  brought  to  a 
proper  degree  of  perfection  without  the  other. 

The  thought  enrichment  of  the  common-school  cur- 
riculum in  recent  years  has  come  from  all  the  main 
reservoirs  of  knowledge,  from  the  nourishing  litera- 
ture of  all  countries,  from  nature-study  and  applied 
science,  from  the  industrial  and  mechanic  arts,  from 
fine  art  and  music,  from  the  history  of  America  and 
Europe,  and  from  fruitful  biography.  The  modern 
school  is  rich  in  practical  and  useful  knowledge;  it 
abounds,  also,  in  the  choice  literary  and  art  products 


190    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

of  many  lands.  This  extraordinary  enrichment  might 
seem,  at  first  glance,  to  have  pushed  the  formal  studies 
to  one  side.  Not  at  all.  Observe  only  the  variety  of 
studies  and  exercises  in  the  school  to-day  whose  one 
direct  purpose  is  to  master  the  English  language  as  a 
means  of  expression.  The  list  runs  as  follows:  — 

Learning  to  read  in  primary  grades.  This  requires 
about  three  years  of  steady  effort.  It  should  be  com- 
bined with  story -telling  and  literature. 

Language  lessons,  extending  through  six  grades. 

Writing  and  printing,  long-continued  motor  exer- 
cises in  mastering  forms. 

Spelling  and  punctuation  and  readiness  in  use,  drills, 
etc. 

Composition  exercises  in  all  grades  and  theme-writ- 
ing in  upper  schools. 

Phonics,  careful  and  systematic  drills  and  applica- 
tions. 

Dictionary  or  diacritical  markings,  abbreviations 
and  their  constant  use. 

Grammar,  especially  in  grammar  grades.  Correct 
speech  based  on  grammar. 

Rhetoric  and  versification.  Finally,  attention  to 
language  in  all  studies. 

To  these  may  be  added  the  symbolisms  used  in  chem- 
istry, arithmetic,  and  algebra,  and  in  musical  notation, 
with  their  exercises  continuing  for  years. 

In  addition  to  this,  every  special  subject  has  its  own 
peculiar  technical  phraseology  which  must  be  mas- 
tered while  working  at  its  thought  content;  e.g.,  special 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  191 

and  technical  terms  in  botany,  physiology,  chemistry, 
music,  drawing,  geography,  etc. 

Such  a  survey  of  the  actual  situation  reveals  to  us 
the  overwhelming  importance  of  the  formal  element  in 
our  common-school  education.  The  great  problem  is 
how  to  economize  time  and  effort  in  the  mastery  of 
these  forms,  and  at  the  same  time  to  allow  the  thought 
element  its  rightful  predominance  in  studies. 

The  inherent  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact,  first,  that  the 
mastery  of  forms  for  ready  use  is  in  itself  a  very  serious 
undertaking,  and,  second,  that  the  acquisition  of  new 
and  difficult  trains  of  thought  is  an  absorbing  intellec- 
tual effort  which  tends  to  monopolize  attention.  These 
two  modes  of  thought  are  also  somewhat  oppositional 
in  quality,  and  to  combine  them  both  in  one  mental 
act,  so  complicated  and  difficult,  requires  a  decided 
stretch  of  mental  effort.  It  means  the  doing  of  two  di- 
verse and  strenuous  things  at  the  same  time.  In  his 
progressive  advance  into  studies,  the  child  is  constantly 
facing  this  requirement  to  form  new,  difficult,  and 
complex  habits  of  thought.  The  child  and  the  teacher, 
too,  are  tempted  to  separate  these  difficulties  and  mas- 
ter them  one  at  a  time.  But  it  is  dangerous  to  divorce 
two  things  that  belong  so  close  together.  The  moment 
we  set  one  of  these  things  off  by  itself  and  try  to  master 
it,  we  discover  that  we  need  the  other.  Thought  cannot 
travel  far  without  correct  form  to  lean  upon.  Again 
the  learning  and  drill  upon  forms,  without  inspiring 
thought,  quickly  degenerate  into  dull  and  formal  rou- 
tine. The  child  must  be  constantly  facing  both  these 


192    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

difficulties,  and  the  problem  for  the  teacher  is  how  to 
emphasize  both  alike,  and  how  to  bring  about  a  con- 
stant interplay  between  thought  and  form,  so  as  to 
produce  a  complex  habit,  namely,  the  expression  of 
correct  thought  in  correct  form. 

The  teacher  is  the  one  who  must  be  clearly  conscious 
of  this  aim,  and  set  his  purpose  and  organize  his  means 
to  bring  about  this  result.  A  narrow  partisanship  lean- 
ing toward  formalism,  and  a  brusque  contempt  for  cor- 
rect forms  and  modes  of  expression  on  the  assumption 
that  thought  is  the  one  essential  thing,  are  alike  repug- 
nant to  that  rational  and  liberal  spirit  which  should 
characterize  the  teacher.  The  teacher  cannot  afford 
to  be  a  stubborn  and  illiberal  partisan  in  such  contro- 
versies. Practical  education  is  so  full  of  these  dualisms 
that  it  furnishes  frequent  and  easy  opportunity  to  pick 
quarrels  if  one  is  so  disposed.  But  the  teacher  can 
hardly  afford  to  waste  his  energy  and  spoil  the  fruits  of 
education  in  such  disputes.  Partisanship  may  be  per- 
missible in  politics  and  in  some  other  callings,  but  in 
education,  breadth  and  liberality  of  mind,  combined 
with  complete  and  thorough  mastery  of  both  sides  of 
fundamental  issues,  are  necessary  to  an  educator.  The 
problem  for  the  teacher  lies  in  developing  and  organiz- 
ing harmony  out  of  such  diverse  and  seemingly  oppos- 
ing tendencies.  The  well-trained  child  is  the  expression 
of  this  harmonized  result. 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  193 

Cases  of  marked  tendencies  toward  formalism 

1 .  Excessive  drill  on  the  careful  verbal  analysis  of  prob- 
lems and  processes  in  arithmetic  in  intermediate 
grades.  The  exact  memorizing  of  long  rules,  govern- 
ing the  processes  in  arithmetic,  sometimes  before 
the  processes  themselves  are  clearly  illustrated  and 
understood.^  Such  exercises  are  vexatious  and  almost 
fraudulent. 

2.  The  old  alphabet  method  of  learning  to  read  still 
used  in  some  schools.  A  simple,  well-organized 
phonetic  method,  on  the  other  hand,  which  enables 
children  to  help  themselves,  is  a  pronounced  aid  in 
gaining  the  power  to  read. 

3.  The  oral  spelling  of  rare  and  difficult  words,  often 
without  a  knowledge  of  meanings,  is  a  waste  of 
time  needed  for  better  purposes. 

4.  The  humdrum  reading  of  selections  from  the  read- 
ing-book without  clear  thought  and  vital  expres- 
sion. Such  work  is  listless  and  unintelligent. 

5.  A  grammatical  drill  and  routine  in  Latin  which 
pays  little  attention  to  the  content  of  literature. 
Grammatical  parsing  and  construing  in  English  is 
often  carried  to  excess. 

6.  Learning  and  locating  many  facts  in  geography 
with  little  sense  or  meaning.  The  same  with  mere 
facts  and  dates  in  history.  Fact-cramming  in  any 
subject,  without  developing  intelligence,  is  essen- 
tially a  formal,  empty  exercise. 

7.  The  memorizing  of  proverbs,  poems,  songs,  hymns, 


194    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

catechisms,  and  classifications  which  do  not  ap- 
peal to  a  child's  intelligence  or  sense  of  values,  is 
irrational  and  conducive  to  thoughtlessness  and 
dullness. 
8.  The  forms  of  politeness,  cultivated  without  the 
spirit  of  kindness  and  good  will,  suggest  that  formal 
education  easily  becomes  false  and  hypocritical. 

Instances  showing  neglect  of  forms  and  over-emphasis 
of  mere  thought  and  content 

1.  Children's  common  use  of  faulty  and  ungrammat- 
ical  English  in  reciting  their  lessons.  They  are 
in  need  of  more  specific,  practical  language  drills 
in  correcting  common  faults,  and  they  should  be 
held  to  higher  standards  of  correct  expression  in  all 
studies. 

2.  Teachers  and  children  often  are  careless  about  cor- 
rect and  exact  phraseology  in  arithmetic.  Such 
slovenly  and  inaccurate  language  must  be  a  mark 
of  careless  thinking.  It  shows  a  low  standard  and 
loose  habits  of  thought. 

3.  For  lack  of  phonetic  drills,  children  fail  to  speak 
with  distinct  articulation,  and  with  correct  utter- 
ance of  vowel  sounds.  Final  consonants  and  short 
vowels  are  slurred  and  neglected.  Teachers,  in 
common  with  children,  are  untrained  and  negli- 
gent. 

4.  The  careful,  formal  outlining  of  oral  lessons  in 
geography,  history,  and  science,  showing  signifi- 
cant main  headings,  is  often  neglected.  This  group- 


TWO  IMPORTANT  CONTRASTS  195 

ing  and  organization  of  thought  material  in  well- 
selected,  well-expressed  headings  is  necessary  as  a 
basis  for  good  mastery  and  reproduction.  Other- 
wise oral  lessons  are  loose,  careless,  and  inco- 
herent. Simple,  strong,  formal  outlines  are  needed. 

5.  The  essential  forms  of  letter- writing,  paragraphing, 
capitalization,  abbreviations,  correct  spelling  of 
common  words,  and  clear,  legible  handwriting  re- 
quire in  many  schools  more  definite  attention.  In 
these  things  children  are  not  brought  to  standards 
of  form. 

6.  The  English  language  is  carelessly  and  often  er- 
roneously spoken  and  written  by  many  who  have 
completed  courses  even  in  our  higher  schools  (not 
to  mention  slang  and  vulgarisms).  In  some  cases 
this  appears  as  a  mark  of  intellectual  degeneracy 
among  people  of  education. 

7.  Roughness,  crudeness,  and  lack  of  polish  in  man- 
ners are  regarded  by  some  persons  as  a  mark  of 
independence  and  originality. 


CHAPTER  Vni 

CLASS  INSTRUCTION  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION 

One  of  the  perplexing  problems  for  a  teacher  in  any 
school  is  that  of  combining  class  instruction  with  a 
proper  regard  for  individuals.  Most  of  our  teaching  is 
conducted  in  classes  and  has  strong  elements  of  the 
social  spirit.  There  is  cooperation  and  mutual  help- 
fulness in  a  well-conducted  class,  especially  where 
freedom  of  discussion  and  interchange  of  thought 
prevail;  where  honest  inquiry  can  be  made  and  fair 
and  friendly  criticism  exercised.  The  discussion  of  a 
difficult  problem  from  various  points  of  view,  and  as 
influenced  by  different  temperaments  and  modes  of 
judging,  when  conducted  by  a  well-poised  teacher,  is 
a  good  training  in  deliberate  and  balanced  modes  of 
thinking.  The  suggestions  of  one  mind  are  helpful 
and  broadening  to  another. 

There  may  be  also  a  natural,  healthy  social  rivalry. 
The  spirit  of  emulation  stimulates  effort.  Even  debate 
may  push  one  into  more  careful  and  exact  thinking 
and  arouse  the  mind  to  more  energetic  action.  The 
opposite  ways  in  which  different  minds  approach  and 
appropriate  a  new  subject  are  mutually  suggestive 
and  corrective. 

The  guidance  of  the  teacher  is  necessary  to  hold  the 
discussion  within  proper  bounds.  Questions  and  criti- 
cisms and  rebuttals  are  necessary  to  expose  fallacies. 


CLASS  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION    197 

But  the  different  students  may  contribute  much  to 
the  proper  survey  and  balancing-up  of  the  subject. 
In  these  various  ways  a  judicious  teacher  can  train 
children  in  the  organization  of  new  thought  material, 
can  bring  them  to  a  proper  grouping  of  the  facts  and 
to  logical  modes  of  reasoning  upon  the  facts.  In  such 
competitive  and  cooperative  discussions  a  whole  class 
may  be  trained  together  into  correct  modes  of  thinking 
and  into  right  habits  of  study. 

In  reading-lessons,  the  entire  class  may  become  a 
critical  and  receptive  audience,  and  each  reader  in 
turn  is  responsible  for  making  the  thought  of  the  book 
stand  out  in  clear  and  interesting  presentation.  In 
discussing  literary  selections,  there  is  a  wide  range  of 
fruitful  interpretation  and  of  social  application.  Ms- 
thetic  and  moral  ideals  are  presented  in  striking  im- 
agery, to  which  the  united  social  spirit  of  the  class  may 
respond.  In  dramatization,  also,  the  cooperative  and 
class  spirit  is  especially  called  into  play. 

Music  is  distinctively  socializing  in  its  effects.  It 
awakens  common  emotions  and  sympathies,  as  in 
patriotic  and  home-loving  songs.  The  rhythm  and 
harmony  of  music  bring  all  minds  together  into  one 
tempo.  The  modern  rhythmic  movements  and  folk- 
songs are  having  a  pronounced  influence  in  giving 
children  easy  and  flexible  manners  and  a  happy  social 
spirit.  Many  of  the  school  games,  played  by  classes, 
are  helpful  in  the  same  way.  Class  gymnastics  and 
drills  are  a  training  in  common  or  joint  activity. 

In  most  studies  there  are  interesting  and  stirring 


198    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

class  exercises  which  develop  enthusiasm  and  strong 
mental  effort.  Rapid  concert  drills  in  phonics,  in  oral 
arithmetic,  in  geography  and  spelling  tests,  in  re- 
peating memorized  selections,  in  free  arm  movements 
in  writing,  and  in  various  speed  tests  are  invaluable 
means  of  giving  tone  and  thoroughness  to  class-work. 
A  reasonable  amount  of  friendly  rivalry  in  such  tests 
is  legitimate  and  even  helpful  in  the  growth  of  social 
spirit.  In  class  instruction  the  teacher  becomes  an 
organizer  of  social  spirit,  both  in  the  effort  to  discuss 
and  illuminate  valuable  topics  and  also  in  the  varied 
common  drills  and  rivalries  of  the  school  program. 
Class  instruction  is  based  upon  the  common  feelings 
and  impulses  of  human  nature  and  upon  the  similari- 
ties in  mental  processes.  It  unites  people  along  lines 
of  thought  and  sentiment  where  they  harmonize  easily 
and  work  together  to  a  common  result. 

The  smooth  management  and  direction  of  a  school 
depend  upon  the  leader's  tact  in  properly  touching 
and  unifying  the  scattered  personal  elements  so  as  to 
bring  them  into  sympathy  and  cooperation.  They  are 
capable  of  flying  to  pieces  so  as  to  produce  confusion. 
Like  a  piano-player,  the  teacher  must  know  what 
chords  to  strike  so  as  to  bring  harmony  out  of  apparent 
discord.  So  far  as  a  science  of  school  and  class  manage- 
ment is  concerned,  teachers  have  been  left  to  work  out 
this  problem  pretty  much  for  themselves.  It  is  a 
difficult  social  art,  that  should  be  based  upon  social 
science.  But  social  science  is  not  yet  very  clearly  and 
definitely  developed.   A  practical  sociology  would  be 


CLASS  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION    199 

more  helpful  to  a  teacher  than  psychology,  because 
it  would  explain  social  spirit  in  its  origin  and  growth, 
while  psychology  deals  mainly  with  individual  spirit. 
Sociology  itself  is  a  rapidly  developing  science,  and 
more  recently  the  aim  of  education  and  the  function 
of  the  school  have  been  set  forth  as  fundamentally 
and  chiefly  social,  i.e.,  in  terms  of  social  science. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  teacher  should  be  a 
completely  developed,  all-round  social  creature.  On 
this  basis  and  with  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  aim  of  the 
school  and  of  the  main  lines  upon  which  its  activities 
are  to  be  grouped  and  combined,  he  may  attack  the 
problem  of  management  with  some  hope  of  success. 
It  is  worth  something  at  least  to  center  the  attention 
of  the  teacher  upon  the  social  forces  that  must  be 
understood  and  brought  into  cooperation  to  secure  a 
happy  organization  of  school  forces. 

On  the  strictly  practical  side,  teaching  in  classes 
is  one  of  the  large  and  necessary  economies.  The 
teacher  who  can  handle  twenty  to  forty  children  suc- 
cessfully in  one  class  is  doing  double,  quadruple,  yes, 
twenty-fold  duty.  He  is  like  a  skillful  invention  that 
does  the  work  of  twenty  men.  He  is  an  expert  in  the 
social  manipulation  and  guidance  of  a  large  group 
of  developing  minds.  All  public  school  systems 
are  based  upon  this  conception  of  mental  likeness  and 
social  uniformity  as  a  basis  for  the  grouping  of  con- 
siderable numbers  under  the  tuition  of  one  person. 
Any  other  conception  of  public  universal  education 
would  be  extremely  expensive  if  not  impossible. 


200    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

In  two  respects  the  Germans  emphasize  this  social 
principle  in  teaching  and  school  discipline  more  than 
we  in  America.  First,  on  the  average,  they  apportion 
a  much  larger  number  of  pupils  to  each  teacher  than 
do  we  in  the  United  States.  In  1906,  throughout  the 
German  Empire,  the  average  number  of  pupils  to  each 
teacher  was  fifty-eight,  certainly  a  much  larger  aver- 
age than  ours.  Secondly,  the  extensive  use  of  an  oral 
method  of  instruction,  either  by  development  and 
discussion  or  by  direct  lecture,  distinguishes  the  Ger- 
man schools.  Children  learn  their  lesson  during  the 
class  recitation,  from  the  skillful  oral  presentation  of 
the  teacher,  and  reproduce  it  at  once  under  his  criti- 
cism. This  implies  confidence  in  the  teacher's  power 
to  handle  large  numbers  and  cause  them  to  think  to- 
gether and  move  along  together  through  difficult  lines 
of  thought.  In  America,  we  are  more  inclined  to  allow 
a  child  to  work  by  himself  at  his  desk  and  then  come 
to  the  class  to  test  out  and  revise  what  he  has  thus 
learned  in  his  own  way.  During  recent  years  we  have 
been  cultivating  skill  in  oral  instruction  in  primary 
grades  and  less  in  the  upper  grades.  In  other  words, 
our  instruction  is  relatively  lacking  in  the  social  co- 
operative spirit  that  marks  German  schools. 

In  spite  of  this,  our  school  systems  and  all  our  in- 
struction, in  a  variety  of  ways,  are  taking  on  a  strong 
community  and  social  spirit.  Both  our  theory  of  class- 
room instruction  and  our  practice  are  developing 
rapidly  toward  class  unity,  to  simultaneous  class 
movement  and  progress,  to  class  spirit  and  standards. 


CLASS  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION    201 

In  the  history  of  education,  on  the  other  hand,  and 
in  our  present  practice,  we  find  a  marked  tendency  in 
the  opposite  direction  —  to  individualism.  Many 
sensible  teachers  and  thinkers  claim  that  a  better  form 
of  instruction  is  the  individualistic.  On  account  of 
peculiar  temperament  and  special  mental  quality, 
each  child  is  a  problem,  requiring  particular  considera- 
tion and  treatment.  Teachers,  like  physicians,  should 
diagnose  each  case,  and  apply  remedies  and  treatment 
accordingly.  The  tutorial  system,  in  private  families 
and  at  the  universities,  has  been  often  approved  as 
the  most  effective  form  of  teaching.  It  brings  the 
teacher  into  close  personal  relation  to  one  or  a  very 
few  students,  so  that  instruction  is  adjusted  to  the 
individual  need.  In  this  connection,  by  observation 
and  deliberate  thought,  the  instructor  may  under- 
stand the  child  and  think  out  a  suitable  mode  of  treat- 
ment. In  history  there  are  some  famous  illustrations 
of  this  kind,  as  in  the  case  of  the  philosopher  Aristotle, 
who  for  some  years  was  tutor  to  the  youthful  Alex- 
ander. Ascham  taught  the  Princess  Elizabeth.  Her- 
bart  devoted  himself  for  several  years  to  the  training 
of  three  boys  in  a  Swiss  family.  Fenelon  was  peculiarly 
successful  in  educating  the  French  dauphin.  Rous- 
seau's Emile,  the  most  famous  book  on  education, 
is  worked  out  on  this  plan.  John  Locke's  experience 
in  teaching  was  gained  as  a  tutor  and  adviser  in 
English  families,  and  his  very  interesting  treatise, 
Thoughts  on  Education,  is  an  elaboration  of  this  mode 
of  tuition.   At  the  English  universities  for  centuries, 


202    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

much  of  the  best  instruction  has  been  of  the  tutorial 
sort. 

This  tendency  toward  individual  instruction  crops 
out  from  time  to  time  as  a  protest  against  the  strong 
drift  toward  uniformity  which  would  construct  all 
children  upon  one  dull  pattern.  The  Batavia  plan  is 
a  modification  of  class  instruction  in  the  interest  of 
individual  capacity,  allowing  each  child  to  move  along 
in  part  independently,  as  his  ability  and  industry 
permit.  Two  teachers  are  employed  in  one  room,  one 
for  class  instruction,  and  one  for  individual  attention 
in  the  preparation  of  lessons. 

The  tutorial  plan  of  instruction  is  necessarily  ex- 
pensive and  aristocratic.  It  has  been  in  vogue  in  all 
countries  that  possessed  a  noble  and  wealthy  class. 
It  prevailed  in  the  Southern  States  before  the  war. 
The  introduction  of  a  broad  public  school  system, 
including  expensive  and  well-equipped  high  schools, 
has  everywhere  pushed  the  tutorial  system  into  the 
background. 

Yet  a  full  and  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  in- 
dividualistic point  of  view  is  of  high  importance.  As 
a  rule  we  are  not  in  danger  of  giving  too  much  atten- 
tion to  individuals.  In  the  instruction  and  moral 
guidance  of  children  it  is  of  fundamental  importance 
to  understand  and  respect  a  child's  individual  traits 
and  abilities.  The  child-study  movement  of  recent 
years  has  turned  our  attention  to  the  physiology  and 
psychology  of  childhood  and  youth  and  to  individual 
defects,  abnormalities,  and  causes  of  retardation.    It 


CLASS  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION    203 

has  also  encouraged  the  study  of  individual  children. 
The  pedagogy  also  of  the  treatment  of  defectives  is 
individualistic  and  throws  much  light  upon  school 
problems.  A  closer  contact  with  parents  in  the  home 
and  in  parents'  meetings,  and  otherwise,  will  compel 
us  to  pay  more  attention  to  individual  traits.  The 
great  stimulus  toward  vocational  education  and  to 
vocational  guidance  which  we  are  now  witnessing  is 
a  demand  for  specialization  along  lines  of  individual 
preference  and  capacity.  From  this  point  of  view 
children  should  be  observed  and  developed  with  an 
eye  to  their  future  callings  and  in  conformity  to  their 
natural  ability  and  tastes.  The  elective  system  in 
colleges  had  a  similar  basis  and  tendency. 

It  is  beyond  question  that  our  prevailing  methods 
of  teaching  large  classes  cause  us  to  overlook  the  pecu- 
liarities and  needs  of  individuals;  that  we  get  into  the 
habit  of  thinking  of  children  as  of  average  ability  and 
quality.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  children  of  an  ordi- 
nary class  are  widely  and  often  surprisingly  different 
in  ability  and  temper.  In  discipline,  on  the  basis 
of  common  principles,  they  require  widely  different 
modes  of  treatment.  In  scholarly  lines,  some  can 
easily  move  along  twice  as  rapidly  as  others.  A  few 
have  marked  ability  in  one  direction,  with  compensat- 
ing weakness  in  other  lines  of  study.  To  force  all 
children  to  move  along  at  one  pace  is  unnatural  and 
arbitrary.  It  imposes  too  heavy  a  burden  upon  a  few 
and  leaves  the  strong  intellects  without  adequate 
stimulus  to  effort. 


204    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

In  the  general  plan  and  organization  of  a  great 
national  system  of  schools,  it  is  important  to  provide 
for  a  gradual  sifting-out  process  by  which  not  only 
the  general  culture  of  all  students  will  be  provided  for, 
but  strongly  marked  individual  talents  and  capacities 
will  be  discerned,  developed,  and  turned  eventually 
into  those  channels  of  specialization  where  they  will 
reach  their  full  practical  realization;  just  as  in  France 
to-day  children  who  show  signs  of  skill  and  talent  in 
drawing  and  fine  arts  are  picked  out,  encouraged,  and 
finally  directed  to  the  higher  schools  of  art  where  they 
may  find  means  of  turning  their  best  talent  into  the 
service  of  society. 

Taking  education  as  a  whole,  therefore,  we  may  con- 
clude that  these  opposed  tendencies  toward  class  and 
individualistic  instruction  are  of  about  equal  impor- 
tance. How  shall  we  reconcile  and  combine  two  such 
requirements,  that  which  looks  toward  the  strong 
social  and  group  spirit  in  class  instruction  and  that 
which  demands  a  close  and  discriminating  attention 
to  individual  ability  (talent  or  weakness)?  In  the 
general  management  of  a  whole  school  and  in  each 
classroom  this  problem  becomes  very  acute.  At  every 
moment  in  a  live  school  we  have  this  double  problem 
on  our  hands.  We  are  actually  dealing  with  the  school 
whole  and  with  individuals.  It  surely  demands  alert- 
ness and  versatility  in  the  teacher  to  be  prepared  at 
any  moment  to  respond  to  either  or  both  of  these  calls. 
In  entering  any  classroom  when  the  work  is  on,  the 
first  important  question  or  double  question  is  this,  Is 


CLASS  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION    205 

there  close  class  attention  and  cooperation  in  the  work, 
and  at  the  same  time  is  proper  consideration  given 
to  children  who  are  careless  or  peculiar?  The  in- 
structor's mind  must  be  swift  in  its  movements  back 
and  forth  between  the  class  effort  and  the  individual 
mental  operations  which  diverge  at  various  angles 
from  this.  Young  teachers  are  at  first  weak  in  making 
this  happy  combination.  Strong,  experienced  teach- 
ers acquire  a  remarkable  versatility  and  readiness  in 
meeting  this  double  requirement.  A  very  complex 
habit  of  attention  must  be  acquired  by  the  instructor, 
a  sort  of  double  or  triple  consciousness  which  can  take 
in  several  diverse  things  almost  simultaneously,  — 
the  thought  movement  of  the  whole  class,  the  inatten- 
tive or  careless  attitude  of  one  or  more  persons,  the 
general  discipline  of  the  schoolroom,  and,  perhaps,  one 
or  two  other  diverting  circumstances  of  the  moment. 
Such  complex  habits  of  attention  and  of  quick  ad- 
justment to  a  constantly  changing  panorama  of  events 
are  high  accomplishments  acquired  only  in  the  stress 
and  struggle  of  vigorous  class  instruction.  This  is  but 
another  illustration  of  the  broader  scope  and  keenness 
of  the  teacher's  mental  activity  in  harmonizing  two 
practical  demands  which  are  oppositional  in  character. 
This  problem  is  so  fundamental,  so  difficult,  and  so 
persistently  present  in  teaching,  that  numerous  de- 
vices have  been  resorted  to  so  as  to  meet  it  successfully. 
First,  the  proper  organization  of  the  school  as  a  whole 
(in  a  graded  system)  may  get  rid  of  many  hindrances, 
as  follows:  The  removal  of  incorrigibles  from  the  room: 


206    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

this  will  give  the  teacher  a  reasonable  chance  to  deal 
with  the  class;  the  proper  grading  of  children  so  as  to 
have  those  of  approximately  the  same  age  and  ability 
together;  a  well-devised  curriculum  which  furnishes 
appropriate  material  of  study  for  the  children;  a  recita- 
tion room  where  one  is  not  seriously  disturbed  by  other 
classes  and  happenings  in  the  neighborhood;  suitable 
books,  maps,  blackboard,  and  apparatus. 

With  all  these  conditions  favorable,  the  teacher  is  in 
a  position  to  concentrate  upon  the  main  problem.  In 
handling  any  important  lesson  before  a  class,  he  needs 
such  an  organization  and  mastery  of  the  subject  that  it 
makes  him  free  to  observe  the  class.  With  his  eyes 
fixed  on  a  textbook  or  outline,  or  anything  else,  he  is 
not  free  to  exert  his  personal  influence  upon  the  class 
and  to  see  what  is  going  on. 

While  the  main  topics  of  the  lesson  are  under  consid- 
eration, the  instructor  is  on  the  alert  to  drop  a  ques- 
tion upon  any  one  who  is  inattentive  or  careless. 
When,  because  of  inattention,  a  pupil  has  failed,  as 
vj  soon  as  the  point  has  been  stated  again,  he  should  be 
called  upon  to  reproduce  it.  Steady  pressure  upon 
those  who  are  thoughtless  and  scattering  in  attention 
will  bring  them  into  the  class  movement.  When  the 
main  line  of  thought  has  been  worked  out,  some  have 
mastered  the  subject,  others  have  fallen  behind.  Some- 
times it  is  advisable  to  let  the  abler  ones  restate  the 
argument  so  that  the  poorer  pupils  may  have  a  second 
chance  to  master  it;  and  they  should  be  called  upon  at 
the  close  to  show  what  they  can  do.   Or  the  brighter 


CLASS  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION    207 

pupils,  who  have  mastered  the  subject,  may  be  assigned 
other  tasks  at  the  board  or  at  their  desks  to  employ 
their  time.  For  slow  pupils  the  instructor  needs  ready 
power  of  concrete  illustration,  and  quick  judgment  to 
see  where  the  trouble  lies  in  a  child's  thinking.  Chil- 
dren should  be  so  treated  that  they  feel  free  to  ask 
questions  and  to  confess  their  failure  to  understand. 

Keep  before  children  the  main  line  of  argument  and 
stick  to  this  in  the  reproductions,  drills,  and  tests. 

Have  on  hand  a  good  supply  of  select  topics  with 
which  to  engage  the  brighter  pupils  while  the  slower 
ones  are  bringing  up  their  work. 

In  order  to  keep  up  the  lively  spirit  and  attention  of 
a  class,  shift  over  frequently  to  a  new  kind  of  work.  In 
other  words,  give  spice  and  variety  to  the  recitationv 

At  times  the  instructor  should  be  sharply  critical,  at 
other  times  helpful  and  encouraging. 

Constantly  throw  responsibility  upon  pupils  for  full, 
clear  statements,  for  reproductions  demonstrating 
close  attention,  for  work  properly  assigned,  and  for 
keeping  up  standards  that  are  clearly  understood. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  suggestions  that  apply  to 
this  many-sided  and  difficult  problem. 

In  order  to  simplify  the  situation  for  room  instruc- 
tion, an  extra  teacher  is  sometimes  employed  in  a  school 
building  who  will  spend  the  time  with  special  children 
or  groups,  giving  drills,  reviews,  and  explanations 
suited  to  individual  needs.  In  any  larger  system  of 
schools  there  ought  to  be  some  extra  teachers  who  can 
devote  their  efforts  to  individuals  (incorrigibles)  and 


208    SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE  AND  INSTRUCTION 

to  small  classes  that  cannot  keep  their  place  in  regular 
work.  Sometimes  the  principals  of  buildings  are  very 
helpful  in  this  supplementary  work.  Some  teachers  are 
solicitous  in  giving  helpful  direction  to  special  cases 
before  and  after  school. 

One  advantage  peculiar  to  German  schools  is  the  fact 
that  the  teacher  has  usually  (in  graded  schools)  but  one 
class  before  him,  and  he  can  thus  aid  and  supervise 
children  during  their  study  periods.  In  the  city  of 
Mannheim,  on  the  middle  Rhine,  children  are  sepa- 
rated into  three  classes  during  the  third  year  of  school: 
(1)  those  of  good  normal  capacity  and  ability  to  do 
strong  work;  (2)  those  of  mediocre  capacity,  and  others 
who  from  any  cause  have  fallen  below  the  normal;  (3) 
those  of  poor  mentality  and  defectives.  A  full  course 
of  study  is  worked  out  for  each  of  these  groups  (from 
eight  to  fourteen).  The  presumption  is  that  the  first  or 
upper  class  will  move  on  more  rapidly  than  if  they  were 
encumbered  and  retarded  by  pupils  from  each  of  the 
other  groups.  In  the  two  lower  groups,  however,  the 
classes  are  expected  to  do  thoroughly  and  well  what  is 
assigned  to  them,  because  it  is  suited  to  their  strength. 
This  system  of  classification  has  been  in  vogue  for 
twelve  years  and  is  a  very  serious  and  continuous 
effort  to  deal  with  this  problem  of  class  instruction. 
The  connections  are  kept  open  between  the  three 
groups  so  that  children  may  push  forward  to  a  higher 
group,  or  drop  back  as  need  arises. 


CLASS  AND  INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION    209 

Conclusion 

From  this  brief  discussion  it  is  clear  that  in  adjusting 
himself  to  the  social  and  individual  needs  of  a  class, 
the  teacher  is  constantly  facing  a  very  difficult  and 
many-sided  problem.  In  preparing  himself  to  meet 
this  problem,  he  can  engage  in  two  lines  of  study: 
First,  individual  child  study  will  broaden  his  knowledge 
of  boys  and  girls,  and  discover  to  him  the  variety  and 
richness  in  human  nature.  This  sympathetic  inquiry 
into  the  qualities  and  dispositions  and  physical  make- 
up of  children,  together  with  introspection  and  revival 
of  one's  own  childhood,  furnishes  the  concrete  basis 
upon  which  all  broader  study  of  psychology  and  soci- 
ology can  be  built.  Second,  school  or  class  social  spirit 
maybe  made  an  object  of  observation  and  of  deliberate 
study.  In  fact,  no  one  in  the  world  has  a  better  chance 
to  get  at  the  basal  social  elements  upon  which  society 
is  founded  than  have  teachers.  They  should  be  ob- 
servers to  collect  social  data  and  practical  thinkers  to 
organize  such  materials  and  draw  valuable  conclusions. 

On  the  ground  of  these  two  modes  of  observation 
and  study,  the  teacher  may  then  go  to  work  construc- 
tively to  figure  out  the  main  problem  —  the  right  com- 
bination of  individual  and  social  forces  in  the  school 
program. 


PART  II 

OPPOSING  ELEMENTS  IN  GENERAL 

EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS 

AND  THEORIES 


CHAPTER  IX 

ANTITHETICAL  ELEMENTS  IN  SCHOOL  STUDIES 
I.   THE   IDEALISTIC   AND   THE  USEFUL 

In  the  curriculum  of  studies  we  find  deep  cleavages 
which  separate  the  branches  of  knowledge  into  oppos- 
ing groups,  At  least  the  representatives  of  each  group 
are  strongly  partisan,  and  demand  a  monopoly  of  the 
educational  field  for  their  preferred  studies.  These 
contradictory  tendencies,  which  lie  in  the  very  nature 
of  different  studies,  have  thrown  educators  into  oppos- 
ing camps,  which  have  maintained  their  hostility 
through  centuries  of  educational  history. 

Two  special  groups  of  knowledge  stand  out  as  widely 
divergent  if  not  directly  antagonistic.  They  are  the 
idealistic  and  the  directly  useful. 

The  idealistic  spirit  is  shown  in  romance  and  in  fic- 
tion. The  fairy  tales,  the  old  myths  and  legends;  the 
wonder  stories,  heroic  ballads,  and  lyric  poems;  the 
humorous  extravagances  of  Munchausen  and  Cer- 
vantes, the  epic  poems  and  dramas  of  Homer,  Milton, 
and  Shakespeare  —  all  these  belong  to  the  kingdom  of 
the  imagination.  Here  truth  takes  on  poetical  and 
sometimes  freakish  forms,  and  plays  tricks  with  sober 
reality.  Some  teachers  have  but  little  appreciation  or 
sympathy  for  this  realm  of  poetry  and  idealism.  They 
do  not  respond  to  its  imagery  or  partake  freely  of  its 


214    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

spirit.  Darwin  confessed  in  his  later  years  that  he  had 
lost  the  power  to  enjoy  Shakespeare.  People  of  this 
temper  feel,  however,  that  they  have  not  lost  much, 
because  a  richer  and  more  practical  field  of  study 
awaits  them  in  natural  science,  in  geography  and  the 
useful  arts.  Exact  scientific  and  mathematical  truth 
based  on  facts  and  observed  reality  is  what  interests 
them. 

This  second  group,  the  useful  and  realistic  studies, 
includes  natural  science  in  field  and  laboratory,  history 
and  civics,  mathematics,  commercial  and  industrial 
geography,  constructive  work  in  the  shops,  school  gar- 
dening and  agriculture,  health,  hygiene  and  sanitary 
science,  household  arts,  useful  inventions  and  discov- 
eries, the  biographies  of  explorers,  business  leaders, 
philanthropists,  and  social  reformers,  and  the  arts  of 
reading,  writing,  and  spelling  as  a  preparation  for 
practical  life. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  really  useful  and  valuable 
things  most  deserving  of  children's  mental  and  physical 
effort.  The  course  of  study  naturally  divides  itself 
into  these  two  groups,  on  one  side  the  ideal  world  of 
literature  and  fiction,  on  the  other  the  practical  world 
of  utility. 

A  large  number  of  teachers,  especially  in  high  schools, 
stand  completely  immersed  in  one  of  these  groups  of 
study,  and  they  show  but  little  interest  or  respect  for 
the  other.  Some,  who  have  a  decided  preference  for 
useful  knowledge,  show  a  certain  inhospitality  if  not 
contempt  for  literature.  The  lovers  of  literary  culture, 


ANTITHETICAL  ELEMENTS  215 

on  the  other  hand,  have  not  tried  to  conceal  their  dis- 
dain for  the  narrowly  or  exclusively  practical.  It  is  a 
great  good  fortune  for  anybody,  pupil  or  teacher,  to 
become  absorbingly  interested  in  one  or  the  other  of 
these  groups  of  study.  Departmental  work,  even  in 
grammar  schools,  rests  upon  the  conviction  that  a 
teacher  will  do  better  work  with  children  who  has 
made  an  intensive  study  of  one  or  two  branches.  In 
higher  schools  it  is  altogether  well  to  be  a  deeply  inter- 
ested specialist  in  one  branch  or  group  of  sciences,  and 
to  prefer  this. 

In  the  common  school,  however,  we  are  not  trying 
to  develop  children  into  specialists.  On  the  contrary, 
we  wish  to  broaden  children  out  into  full  mental  and 
moral  stature.  The  teacher  is  supposed  to  be  an  all- 
round  human  being  and  to  develop  in  children  an  all- 
round  receptivity;  that  is,  to  open  up  all  the  main  ave- 
nues of  knowledge  to  every  child.  It  is  questionable 
whether  a  teacher  in  the  elementary  school  should 
have  an  exclusive  preference  for  any  one  study  or  group 
of  studies;  certainly  not  if  he  should  lack  cordiality  and 
respect  for  other  important  studies.  The  whole  ques- 
tion must  be  settled,  not  by  the  preferences  of  the 
teacher,  but  by  a  consideration  of  the  needs  of  chil- 
dren; that  is,  what  their  nature  and  its  best  all-round 
development  demand. 

Our  present  course  of  study  is  the  result  of  a  long 
historical  development.  This  course,  itself,  is  the  ex- 
pression of  the  conviction  that  about  equal  importance 
attaches  to  the  purely  useful  or  utilitarian  and  to  the 


216    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

idealistic  studies.  We  may  add  that  the  natural  and 
spontaneous  interests  of  young  people  seem  to  indicate 
that  they  are  quite  as  much  predisposed  to  idealism  as 
to  utility  studies.  Here  again  the  question  arises,  Why 
should  there  be  any  antagonism  or  bitterness  between 
the  partisans  of  these  two  group  of  studies?  Each  of 
these  groups  is  indispensable  to  the  proper  education  of 
a  child.  A  larger  conception  of  utility  in  studies  is 
needed  which  will  take  in  and  combine  both  groups  into 
one  unified  purpose. 

A  good  argument  can  be  set  up  to  prove  that  in 
higher  utilities,  poetry  and  works  of  the  imagination 
are  quite  as  useful  to  men  as  the  commercial  and  indus- 
trial arts.  In  cultivating  the  higher  feelings,  senti- 
ments, and  enjoyments  of  human  life,  in  the  moral  and 
social  improvement  of  society,  the  idealistic  subjects  of 
study  hold  the  leading  place  and  are  likely  to  retain  it. 
They  express  the  nobler  impulses  of  human  life  and  the 
profounder  sentiments  of  human  nature  at  its  best. 

From  the  historical  point  of  view  there  has  been  an 
age-long  conflict  between  literary  studies  and  the  nat- 
ural sciences.  Since  the  revival  of  learning  in  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries  the  natural  sciences  have 
been  coming  more  and  more  into  prominence  and  have 
competed  with  steadily  increasing  success  with  literary 
studies  for  a  place  in  the  curriculum.  An  examination 
of  modern  courses  of  study  as  historically  developed 
will  show  that  literature  and  linguistic  studies  main- 
tained almost  a  monopoly  of  school  courses  for  several 
centuries,  but  the  sciences  and  other  modern  studies 


ANTITHETICAL  ELEMENTS  217 

gradually  crept  in  until,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  they  sprang  into  full  recognition.  But 
while  natural  science  has  made  a  remarkable  advance 
and  has  gained  a  large  place  for  itself,  literature  and 
language  still  hold  their  own;  only  language  study  has 
shifted  over  to  modern  literature  in  place  of  the  an- 
cient. The  elementary  school  in  recent  years  has  much 
enriched  its  course  in  English  and  American  literature, 
and  even  has  taken  much  from  other  sources  of  world 
literature. 

The  utilitarian  studies  at  the  present  moment  are 
coming  into  still  greater  prominence  by  the  wide  intro- 
duction of  the  industrial  arts,  of  agricultural  science,  of 
health  and  sanitation,  of  vocational  studies,  and  of 
commercial  branches  such  as  typewriting  and  stenog- 
raphy. Our  education  is  becoming  far  more  practical 
in  its  many-sided  bearings  upon  present  life.  At  the 
same  time  the  course  of  study  has  grown  far  richer  in 
idealistic  or  imaginative  materials.  This  signifies  an 
enrichment  of  the  lives  of  children  in  both  directions. 
Our  schools  are  in  duty  bound  to  furnish  all  children 
the  chance  to  expand  and  develop  their  natural  powers 
in  both  these  lines  of  thought.  To  do  this  the  teacher 
must  be  large  enough  fully  to  realize  the  value  of  each 
great  realm  of  knowledge.  He  should  feel  the  neces- 
sity for  combining  them  in  order  to  make  individual 
life  complete.  Conflict  and  contradiction  between 
these  groups  of  knowledge  are  out  of  place.  The 
teachers  should  enlarge  their  sympathies  and  grasp  the 
whole  scope  of  education. 


218    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORD3S 

Similar  to  the  above  conflict  is  the  contrast  between 
the  artistic  and  the  practical  in  several  important 
studies.  Herbert  Spencer  claims  that  the  ornamental 
has  preceded  the  useful  in  the  evolution  of  the  historical 
systems  of  education.  The  love  of  the  beautiful  and 
the  artistic  is  deep-grained  in  human  nature  and  the 
best  exhibitions  of  art  creation  have  appeared  at  the 
high  points  of  civilization  in  different  countries.  Draw- 
ing for  a  long  time  has  been  the  representative  of  the 
art  idea  in  the  curriculum.  The  shop- work  of  the  man- 
ual arts  was  first  introduced  into  schools  as  a  practical 
and  useful  training. 

It  is  a  curious  result  of  the  large  introduction  of  the 
industrial  arts  in  recent  years  that  a  new  and  very 
important  phase  of  fine  art  has  followed  them.  The 
manual  arts,  which  were  regarded  as  strictly  useful, 
have  been  working  over  into  the  arts  and  crafts,  which 
are  strongly  aesthetic.  The  whole  range  of  industrial 
arts,  including  woodwork,  textiles,  clay-molding,  and 
bookbinding,  are  taking  on  a  controlling  art  idea. 
Artistic  design  is  now  becoming  a  superior  dominant 
principle  in  all  this  industrial  work.  That  which 
started  out  as  purely  utilitarian  has  put  itself  directly 
under  the  control  of  the  higher  art  idea.  The  drawing 
and  art  department  in  schools  is  learning  to  relate  it- 
self closely  to  the  manual  arts  so  as  to  throw  art  design 
into  all  constructions.  This  union  of  the  two  somewhat 
widely  separated  departments  is  not  yet  effected  in 
many  schools,  but  it  is  a  strong  and  necessary  drift 
toward  a  better  combination  of  educational  forces.  It 


ANTITHETICAL  ELEMENTS  219 

will  materially  strengthen  both  departments  and  give 
them,  combined,  a  powerful  influence  upon  schools  and 
culture.  The  industrial  arts  are  being  elevated  into  a 
greater  importance  in  training  by  absorbing  into  them- 
selves the  artistic  sentiment. 

The  main  difficulty  is  to  get  teachers  who  are  broad 
enough  in  their  sympathies  and  strong  enough  in  their 
ability  to  combine  two  important  and  contrasted 
fields  of  study  into  one.  It  is  relatively  easy  to  be  an 
expert  in  the  technique  of  wood  construction;  it  is  not 
over-difficult  to  master  the  technique  of  drawing  and 
elementary  art;  but  to  combine  these  lines  of  effort 
and  appreciation  —  the  union  of  the  useful  and  artis- 
tic into  one  constructive  product  —  is  a  far  greater 
achievement  and  a  more  efficient  kind  of  education. 
The  failure  to  do  this  is  apt  to  produce  an  antagonism 
which  takes  the  place  of  cooperation  between  two  lines 
of  study  that  in  their  nature  are  already  unified  into  one. 

We  find,  therefore,  that  this  tendency  to  contradic- 
tion among  studies  where  unity  and  cooperation  should 
prevail,  shows  itself  in  two  distinct  and  important 
phases :  — 

(1)  The  idealistic  and  the  useful,  or  the  literary  and 
the  scientific. 

(2)  The  artistic  and  the  practical. 

The  failure  to  see  this  larger  relation  of  unity  and 
harmony  is  one  of  those  signs  of  narrowness  which  too 
often  marks  the  schoolmaster.  The  important  con- 
sideration is  that  these  studies  cannot  produce  their 
proper  effect  upon  the  minds  of  children  when  those 


220    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

forces  which  should  work  together  in  harmony  are  rent 
asunder  and  thrown  into  narrow  and  foolish  antago- 
nism. The  one-sidedness  and  narrowness  of  the  teacher 
become  the  one-sidedness  and  narrowness  of  the  pu- 
pils, and  error  is  thus  perpetuated. 

Another  striking  contrast  found  in  literary  materials 
is  that  of 

n.   THE   SERIOUS   AND   THE  HUMOROUS 

In  selecting  materials  for  school  studies  the  serious 
and  humorous  elements  should  be  properly  mingled. 
The  two  elements  are  in  striking  contrast  to  each  other 
and  the  humorous  side  is  often  neglected.  The  funda- 
mental tone  of  instruction  should  be  strongly  intellec- 
tual and  vigorous.  It  should  be  thoroughly  aggressive, 
pushing  into  new  fields  of  knowledge  and  encountering 
hard  problems  and  technical  difficulties.  This  requires 
serious  effort  and  a  determined  will.  The  necessity  for 
strong,  concentrated  attention,  for  persistent  struggle 
with  diflBculties,  for  original  thinking  power  in  organiz- 
ing new  materials,  the  effort  to  give  full  expression  to 
new  ideas  in  adequate  language,  and  the  power  to  use 
and  apply  new  principles  to  untried  situations  —  all 
these  require  a  complete  and  serious  absorption  in  the 
subjects  of  study.  But  many  teachers  overdo  the  seri- 
ous attitude.  They  are  too  constantly  strenuous.  The 
face,  the  manner,  and  the  inner  spirit  acquire  a  fixity 
that  is  too  hard  and  unyielding.  The  teacher  needs 
above  some  things  a  mobility  and  flexibility  of  spirit 
that  fits  easily  into  a  great  variety  of  moods. 


ANTITHETICAL  ELEMENTS  221 

Humor  is  a  solvent  of  stiff  mannerisms.  It  takes  the 
rigidity  and  cramp  out  of  one's  mental  habits.  It  re- 
leases the  strain  and  gets  the  children  back  into  a 
wholesome  attitude  in  readiness  for  a  new  and  stronger 
effort.  Humor  is  the  natural  antidote  to  austerity  and 
harshness. 

Two  other  reasons  may  be  assigned  why  humor 
should  be  a  more  or  less  constant  ingredient  of  in- 
struction. The  subject-matter  that  we  deal  with  in 
studies  is  often  humorous  and  loses  its  charm  and 
meaning  if  not  entertained  in  this  humorous  temper. 
Much  of  the  best  literature  for  school  reading  is  funny 
or  mildly  humorous;  Dickens's  stories,  for  example; 
also  Scott,  Thackeray,  Warner,  Irving,  Holmes,  Gold- 
smith, Swift,  and  many  more  of  our  favorite  writers 
cultivate  a  rich  vein  of  humor  or  satire.  Shakespeare, 
even  in  his  tragedies,  sparkles  with  fun  and  banter. 
He  is  wholesome  in  his  natural  mingling  of  the  serious 
and  humorous  in  life  situations.  Another  reason  is 
that  many  children  possess  a  rich  vein  of  humor  which 
the  school  too  seldom  knows  how  to  develop  and  utilize. 
Some  children  are  natural  humorists.  They  excel  in 
this  as  others  excel  in  music  or  mechanics.  Why  not 
somehow  bring  out  these  talents?  They  are  worth  much 
to  the  school  and  to  society.  I  have  heard  an  excellent 
teacher  of  arithmetic  keep  up  a  running  fire  of  ques- 
tions and  humorous  suggestions  which  did  not  detract 
from  the  mental  effort,  but  kept  the  children  in  fine 
spirit.  The  teacher  should  combine  the  serious  and 
humorous  temper  and  attitude.   He  should  cultivate 


222    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORDZS 

the  ability  to  appreciate  the  funny  side  of  life.  It  will 
put  him  on  easier  terms  with  children  and  with  every- 
body. 

The  joker  is  apt  to  become  a  bore,  and,  if  he  tries  to 
be  funny  all  the  time,  will  degenerate  into  a  clown.  It 
is  a  task  to  be  temperate  if  one  has  a  real  gift  for  fun. 
It  is  the  mingling  of  the  two  elements  that  can  give  the 
classroom  its  best  spirit.  Lack  of  appreciation  for  humor 
is  probably  a  sign  of  dullness  and  of  mental  obtuseness, 
of  unsympathetic  temper.  Life  itself,  outside  of  the 
school,  demands  the  mingling  of  these  contrasted  men- 
tal attitudes.  Both  the  course  of  study  and  the  method 
of  instruction  should  partake  of  the  serious  and  the 
humorous. 

If  time  permitted,  we  might  take  notice  of  many 
other  contrasts  in  school  studies  and  programs;  the 
motor  activities  of  the  school  are  apart  from  the  book- 
ish studies.  Mental  training  and  discipline  are  the 
opposite  of  the  physical.  The  formal  and  symbolic 
studies  are  distinguished  from  those  showing  a  rich 
content.  The  social  studies  differ  widely  from  the 
purely  intellectual,  like  mathematics. 


CHAPTER   X 

CONTRASTS  IN  CHILD  AND  IN  SOCIETY 
1.    THE   CHILD   PHYSICAL  AND   MENTAL 

A  group  of  these  contrasts  centers  in  the  child  him- 
self, and  in  his  reactions  upon  his  environment. 

First  is  the  contrast  of  the  physical  and  mental.  The 
child  is  the  focus  of  the  most  inscrutable  contradiction, 
the  coming  together  of  the  physical  and  mental  in  one 
organism.  By  some  sort  of  creative  act,  which  psy- 
chologists and  thinkers  have  not  been  able  to  fathom, 
the  immaterial  mind  has  come  into  vital  relation  to 
the  material  body  and  we  have  a  child.  We  might  leave 
this  metaphysical  problem  for  philosophers  to  puzzle 
over,  but  it  corresponds  exactly  to  an  important  edu- 
cational problem  or  dilemma  which  teachers  cannot 
escape.  How  shall  we  provide  for  the  proper  develop- 
ment of  mind  and  body  together?  At  times  they  have 
been  thought  of  almost  wholly  apart  and  even  regarded 
as  antagonistic. 

We  usually  speak  of  the  physical  and  mental  train- 
ing as  two  separate  things,  each  requiring  its  own  par- 
ticular plans  and  equipment.  Care  for  physical  growth 
and  health  makes  an  interesting  subject  of  study  by 
itself.  Likewise  mental  training  is  well  recognized  as 
an  important  and  distinct  field  of  scientific  study. 

The  schoolmaster  has  been  accustomed  to  presup- 


224    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

pose  satisfactory  health  conditions.  On  this  basis  he 
has  thrown  himself  with  special  emphasis  upon  the 
problem  of  developing  the  child's  mind.  This  is,  indeed, 
an  extensive  field  in  which  to  operate.  It  includes  not 
only  the  intellectual  activities,  but  the  feelings  and 
sensibilities,  the  moral  and  aesthetic  impulses  and  ideals. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  teachers  of  strong  ambition  are 
completely  absorbed  in  directing  the  mental  and  moral 
growth  of  young  people  who  possess  rich  and  varied 
mental  endowments. 

Until  a  few  years  ago  our  psychology  and  pedagogy 
were  almost  wholly  given  over  to  a  study  of  these 
mental  qualities  and  to  the  branches  of  knowledge 
which  contributed  to  their  growth  and  improvement. 
The  schools  are  still  in  the  main  devoted  to  intellectual 
and  moral  training,  as  shown  by  their  time  schedule, 
textbooks,  and  courses  of  study.  Many  teachers  would 
be  surprised,  to-day,  if  told  that  their  time  and  respon- 
sibility to  any  considerable  degree  extended  to  the 
physical  improvement  of  children.  The  excessive  re- 
quirements of  mental  training  have  often  encroached 
upon  the  domain  of  physical  health  and  well-being. 
Anxieties  as  to  bodily  health,  physical  growth,  proper 
food  and  clothing,  exercise,  and  special  physical  weak- 
nesses and  ailments  were  left  exclusively  to  the  home 
and  the  physician.  Teachers  had  their  hands  full  with 
the  intellectual  and  social  discipline  of  the  school. 

But  the  traditional  attitude  of  the  schoolmaster  has 
undergone  a  change  of  late  years.  Psychology  has 
become  physiological.    Pedagogy  has  become  in  part 


CONTRASTS  IN  CHILD  AND  IN  SOCIETY    225 

child-care  from  the  medical  point  of  view.  The  grow- 
ing concern  for  health  conditions  in  schools  has  turned 
our  attention  directly  upon  the  physical  basis  of  right 
living.  Schoolboards  and  schoolmasters  are  summoned 
to  the  duty  of  making  full  provision  for  the  physical 
as  well  as  mental  needs  of  children.  The  roominess 
and  ventilation  of  schools,  even  to  the  extent  in  some 
cases  of  open-air  conditions,  large  playgrounds  with 
full  time  and  equipment  for  outdoor  sports,  indoor 
playrooms,  with  games,  physical  movements  and  danc- 
ing, the  various  preventions  of  school  contagions  by 
expert  medical  inspections,  home  visitations  by  nurses, 
and  quarantine,  are  becoming  acknowledged  necessi- 
ties. They  are  the  inevitable  prelude  and  companion 
to  right  conditions  for  study  and  mental  improvement. 

Teachers  and  parents  are  beginning  to  realize  that 
without  these  essential  sanitary  and  health  provisions, 
a  schoolroom  of  thirty  or  forty  children  is  one  of  the 
most  effective  organizations  in  society  for  collecting 
and  distributing  disease.  Children  are  kept  in  close 
proximity  and  contact  with  each  other  several  hours 
of  the  day.  If  there  is  any  child  in  thirty  families  with 
an  infectious  disease,  he  has  a  chance  to  distribute  it 
to  all  these  families  in  a  short  time.  Children  are  re- 
quired by  law  to  go  to  school.  Would  it  be  unreason- 
able to  require  by  law  that  all  schoolrooms  should  be 
kept  free  as  far  as  possible  from  contagious  and  in- 
fectious diseases,  and  from  unsanitary  conditions  that 
impair  physical  health? 

Proper  health  conditions  and  sound  physical  devel- 


226    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

opment  on  the  one  side,  and  strong  mental  training, 
on  the  other,  are  not  opposites.  Yet  it  is  easy  to  allow 
one  to  encroach  upon  the  other  till  they  become  an- 
tagonistic. In  each  child  they  are  bound  together  so 
intimately  as  to  be  phases  in  the  action  of  one  vital 
organism.  Together  they  constitute  a  double  prob- 
lem—  of  such  breadth  and  many-sidedness  that  the 
average  teacher  may  greatly  broaden  his  interests  and 
his  range  of  practical  knowledge  so  as  to  take  in  the 
entire  situation  intelligently  and  to  combine  them 
properly. 

Recent  psychology  has  been  turning  a  bright  light 
upon  the  relations  between  body  and  mind.  The  more 
closely  we  examine  the  brain  and  the  nervous  system 
in  their  relation  to  the  other  bodily  organs,  the  more 
close  and  interdependent  these  relations  are  found  to 
be.  The  brain,  as  the  instrument  of  the  mind,  is  a 
physical  organ  and  is  a  center  of  control  for  the  entire 
physical  organism.  The  nervous  system,  in  immediate 
touch  with  muscles,  sensory  parts,  and  vital  organs, 
makes  all  the  body  parts  the  direct  agents  of  the  brain 
and  mind.  All  kinds  of  skill  are  at  the  same  instant 
mental  and  physical.  The  basis  of  all  experience  and 
knowledge  is  found  in  sensory  and  motor  reactions, 
which  are  carried  to  the  mind  by  way  of  the  nervous 
system  and  brain. 

Many  of  the  ailments  of  children  in  school  are  due 
to  derangements  between  the  physical  and  mental 
activities;  or,  stating  it  better,  the  mental  ills  are  the 
direct  result  of  physical  conditions.   The  physical  ab- 


CONTRASTS  LN  CHILD  AND  IN  S0CD3TY    227 

normalities  and  curable  defects  of  children  are  being 
studied  to  see  if,  by  their  removal,  mental  faults  and 
weaknesses  cannot  also  disappear  —  and  they  often 
do.  So  inseparable  are  mental  and  physical  effects  that 
psychologists  are  baffled  in  their  effort  to  discriminate 
between  them,  and  some  have  become  skeptical  of  any 
real  distinction. 

These  facts  suggest  that  the  theoretical  separation 
of  the  mental  activities  from  the  physical  in  the  minds 
of  teachers  is  not  based  upon  any  real  facts  in  human 
nature,  but  is  artificial  and  impractical.  At  any  rate, 
the  teacher  must  work  at  his  problem  from  both  sides, 
and  must  study  the  physical  aspects  of  a  child's  actions 
as  carefully  and  as  keenly  as  the  mental.  He  must 
watch  their  interactions  to  see  how  they  combine  in 
every  case  to  form  a  larger  unit  of  action  —  the  whole 
child. 

Teachers  have  too  often  taken  the  partial  view  of 
human  nature,  and  have  even  done  great  injustice  to 
children  by  insisting  upon  mental  responses  for  which 
there  was  no  physical  basis.  For  example,  children 
have  been  called  dunces  and  dullards  because  their 
hearing  or  eyesight  was  defective  or  because  they  were 
too  sleepy  or  exhausted  to  think. 

The  human  being  is  normally  a  physical-mental 
whole,  and  it  is  the  best  interest  of  this  double  whole 
in  its  unitary  action  that  the  educator  must  conserve. 
Conditions  favorable  to  proper  physical  activity  and 
robust  health  as  a  basis  for  mental  growth  are  in  our 
time  the  subject  of  widespread  interest  and  experi- 


228    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

ment.  At  the  universities  experimental  laboratories  for 
making  physical  and  mental  tests  are  happily  in  vogue 
and  much  time  and  expense  are  being  applied  to  this 
problem.  The  schoolroom  is  the  place,  however,  where 
all  these  results  must  be  applied,  and  where  teachers 
should  be  broad-minded  and  keenly  intelligent  to  see 
both  sides  of  a  very  complex  and  finely  adjusted  or- 
ganism. 

The  fundamental  nature  of  this  dualism  between  the 
physical  and  mental  is  demonstrated,  first,  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  child,  as  a  combined  psycho-physical 
organism;  second,  in  the  nature  of  the  school  as  a 
combination  of  physical  and  mental  problems;  and 
finally,  in  the  structure  of  society,  with  its  physical 
and  economic  basis  on  one  side,  and  its  social  and  cul- 
tural factors  on  the  other.  The  child  is  a  microcosm  in 
which  the  whole  problem  of  society  and  of  the  universe 
is  reflected. 

II.    HEREDITY  AND   ENVIRONMENT 

A  somewhat  different  aspect  of  the  study  of  child 
nature  is  suggested  by  the  contrasted  words  "hered- 
ity" and  "environment."  It  has  been  often  debated 
which  of  these  has  the  greater  influence  in  determining 
character.  A  more  important  question  is,  How  are 
they  related  to  each  other?  If  a  child's  heredity 
is  mainly  good,  environment  or  education  should 
strengthen  and  develop  its  potential  forces.  If  a  child 
is  unfortunate  in  his  heredity,  the  problem  is,  How  can 
environment  develop  his  better  activities  and  fortify 


CONTRASTS  IN  CHILD  AND  IN  SOCD3TY    229 

him  against  weaknesses?  Bad  tendencies  may  be  al- 
lowed to  disappear  for  lack  of  opportunity  to  exercise 
them,  and  better  interests  and  habits  may  be  encour- 
aged till  they  get  a  strong  foothold. 

Some  educators  have  taken  extreme  views  regarding 
the  formative  power  of  environment  in  shaping  char- 
acter. The  tender  and  susceptible  nature  of  infancy 
and  childhood  is  a  strong  point  in  their  argument.  The 
disposition  of  children  to  imitate  their  companions  and 
elders  and  the  readiness  with  which  they  take  on  the 
social  temper  and  spirit  of  the  gang  or  group  to  which 
they  belong  is  another  powerful  shaping  influence. 
The  standards  of  judgment  and  of  conduct  in  the  family 
and  community,  in  the  church  and  social  life,  are  also 
powerful  agencies. 

On  the  other  hand,  heredity  has  its  tale  of  woe,  its 
criminal  families,  its  depressing  statistics,  and  also  its 
honorable  record  of  families  showing  a  long  line  of  good 
behavior.  It  is  a  great  blessing  to  have  had  parents  and 
grandparents  of  an  old  stock  known  for  mental,  moral, 
and  physical  sturdiness. 

The  educator  is  here  called  upon  to  take  a  very 
broad  and  charitable  view  of  human  nature;  yes,  to 
exhibit  a  noble  confidence  in  human  kind,  even  in  its 
unpromising  individuals.  The  law  requires  all  to  go  to 
school,  and  assumes  that  all  are  capable  of  even  the 
best  results.  Experience  also  seems  to  show  that  incor- 
rigibles,  so  called,  when  properly  employed  in  school, 
shop  and  playground,  guided  and  controlled  by  pru- 
dent and  sympathetic  teachers,  may  be  saved  from 


230    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

evil  tendencies,  and  thus  guided  through  the  tumultu- 
ous years  of  adolescence  into  steady  good  behavior  in 
maturer  years.  This  happens  sometimes  even  when 
the  surroundings  of  family  life  are  very  unpropitious. 

In  dealing  with  children  from  this  point  of  view 
teachers  should  acquire  the  power  of  judging  individ- 
ual capacity  and  contradictory  traits,  with  their  com- 
bination into  various  types  of  character.  The  trouble- 
some cases  in  particular  should  be  studied  and  treated 
individually,  the  confidence  of  children  secured,  and 
if  possible,  grounds  discovered  in  which  the  teacher 
and  children  alike  may  find  a  basis  for  encouragement. 

Some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  assert  that  the  school 
should  so  study  the  heredity  and  sources  of  power  and 
weakness  in  children  as  to  discover  what  calling  they 
should  prepare  for.  In  this  sense  the  school  would  be- 
come a  sort  of  testing-out  place  to  discover  what  chil- 
dren are  naturally  best  fitted  for,  and  they  would  be 
gradually  developed  in  the  direction  of  their  appropri- 
ate callings.  This  would  give  the  common  school  a 
preliminary  vocational  tendency. 

Without  going  the  full  length  of  this  proposal,  we 
must  admit  that  this  disposition  to  study  the  children's 
individual  peculiarities  and  special  leanings  is  one  of 
the  best  means  of  learning  how  to  bring  educative  in- 
fluences to  bear  upon  them.  Human  nature  is  many- 
sided  and  the  resources  of  educational  environment 
are  rich  and  varied,  and  teachers  should  be  the  agents 
for  bringing  them  into  proper  adjustment. 

The  child  with  his  complex  physical  and  mental 


CONTRASTS  IN  CHILD  AND  IN  SOCDZTY    231 

endowment  (heredity)  is  to  be  adjusted  to  a  very  com- 
plex physical  and  social  environment.  This  happens 
through  a  long-continued  educative  process.  Parents 
and  teachers  alike  may  exert  their  utmost  prudence 
and  wisdom  in  combining  the  diverse  and  seemingly 
contradictory  elements  of  the  problem. 

III.   THE  INDIVIDUAL  AND   THE   SOCIAL   WHOLE 

The  older  definitions  of  education  called  for  an  all- 
round  development  of  the  individual  —  the  harmoni- 
ous weighing  and  balancing  of  the  forces  of  human 
nature  in  each  person.  This  was  the  Greek  conception, 
and  that  of  the  Germans  a  century  ago.  The  physical, 
mental,  and  moral  powers  of  each  person  were  to  be 
cultivated,  strengthened,  and  harmonized  into  the 
perfection  of  individual  character.  Each  person  was 
to  be  brought  to  the  highest  excellence  of  which  he  was 
capable. 

This  emphasis  upon  individual  character  also  gives 
scope  to  marked  ability  and  special  talent.  Each  per- 
son should  develop  in  full  measure  his  strong  individ- 
ual traits,  his  distinctive  personality.  In  this  way  each 
would  also  become  of  the  largest  service  to  society. 
His  special  talents  would  be  fully  developed  and  his 
strong  individuality  brought  out.  That  society  is  strong 
which  has  a  full  assortment  of  strong  individualities. 
Education  should  not  mold  all  people  into  a  common 
form.  It  should  encourage  individuality.  The  world 
would  be  a  dull  place  if  all  thought  and  felt  and  acted 
according  to  a  set  pattern.    Fashion  and  convention 


232    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEOBJES 

easily  are  carried  too  far.  Society  needs  the  stimula- 
tion and  criticism  of  numerous  reformers:  people  who 
are  not  satisfied  with  social  usage  and  existing  law  and 
custom.  Conservatism  and  "  standpatism  "  would  bring 
society  not  merely  to  a  standstill,  but  to  a  swift  retro- 
grade movement  if  they  should  entirely  prevail. 

An  inquiry  into  the  characteristics  of  children  wuT 
discover  the  widest  variation  of  individual  talent  and 
ability  among  them.  In  temperament,  in  preferences 
for  study,  in  inherited  tendencies,  they  show  every- 
where marked  special  features.  The  studies  of  the 
schools  also  furnish  a  variety  of  material  suited  to  this 
wide  range  of  special  talents.  The  conditions  and 
resources  of  the  school  should  be  favorable,  there- 
fore, to  the  cultivation  of  distinct  individualities. 
The  course  of  study  itself,  by  the  rich  abundance  and 
variety  of  materials,  is  a  constant  admonisher  to  the 
teacher  not  to  be  narrow  and  cramped  in  his  attitude 
toward  knowledge. 

On  the  other  side,  the  tendencies  of  theoretical  dis- 
cussion in  recent  years  have  been  strongly  away  from 
the  individual  toward  the  socializing  of  education. 
Education  has  been  emphasized  as  social  adjustment, 
the  fitting  of  a  child  through  training  to  his  social  and 
industrial  environment.  Our  modern  society  is  growing 
into  a  very  complex  organization,  and  it  requires  a 
long  training  to  bring  a  child  to  the  point  where  he  can 
react  skillfully  and  effectively  to  its  many  demands. 
Cooperation  is  now  the  social  watchword,  and  it  is  a 
cooperation  based  on  intelligence  and  on  a  great  va- 


CONTRASTS  IN  CHILD  AND  IN  SOCD3TY    233 

riety  of  well-developed  habits.  In  social  usage,  in  poli- 
tics, in  business  life,  in  travel  and  amusement,  in  the 
family,  in  the  club,  in  State  and  Church,  in  sanitary 
and  health  regulations,  in  the  use  of  machines  and  in- 
ventions, in  a  multitude  of  other  ways,  a  child  must 
become  habituated  to  appropriate  social  reactions  and 
to  intelligent  cooperation  with  many  sorts  of  people. 

The  socializing  principle  in  education  has  thus  come 
into  high  repute.  It  is  claimed  that  the  social  prin- 
ciple is  adequate  to  determine  the  whole  course  of  edu- 
cation; that  the  criterion  by  which  every  phase  of  in- 
struction and  discipline  can  be  judged  is  its  social  value; 
that  proper  consideration  for  the  individual  is  gained 
from  the  social  principle;  and  that  whatever  does  not 
range  itself  under  social  aspects  can  be  omitted.  A 
strong  argument  can  be  set  up  to  show  that  education 
can  be  organized  upon  a  single  principle,  that  of  social 
adjustment. 

But  there  are  good  reasons  for  believing  that  edu- 
cation needs  to  be  measured  and  judged  in  its  every 
aspect  also  from  the  standpoint  of  the  individual.  The 
sum  of  all  individualities  produces  the  social  whole, 
and  what  the  social  whole  is,  is  predetermined  by  the 
character  of  the  individuals.  How  strong  individualis- 
tic characters  are  to  be  developed  is  one  of  the  most 
serious  problems  in  education.  All  of  our  thinking 
on  social  problems  swings  back  and  forth  between  the 
individual  need  and  the  social  need,  between  individ- 
ual rights  and  the  rights  of  the  social  whole. 

The  individual  ego  is  the  center  around  which  new 


234    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

organizations  are  constantly  attempted.  The  individual 
is  also  a  free,  self-governing  agent,  with  power  to  ap- 
propriate or  reject.  He  is  not  and  should  not  be  a  mere 
passive  something  to  be  acted  on  and  wholly  controlled 
by  outside  forces.  All  progress  in  society  must  show  it- 
self first  in  individuals,  and  then  work  its  way  slowly 
and  often  with  great  opposition  into  the  larger  social 
body.  The  established  social  order  is  often  a  very 
cramping  and  destructive  power  exerted  against  the 
individual  and  his  rights,  and  the  only  safety  to  society 
itself  is  to  find  individualities  strong  and  numerous 
enough  to  take  up  the  battle  against  social  tyranny. 
It  is  all  right  to  say  that  every  educational  agency 
must  be  judged  ultimately  from  its  social  implications, 
but  it  may  be  said  with  equal  truth  that  every  such 
agency  should  also  be  judged  from  its  effect  in  the 
production  of  strong,  distinctive  individualities. 

It  may  be  said  also  that  the  leading  representatives 
to-day  of  the  social  view  in  education  are  themselves 
the  most  pronounced  in  their  individualistic  attitude 
and  in  their  sharp,  critical  opposition  to  prevailing 
social  usage  in  education.  They  are  not  at  all  inclined 
to  adjust  themselves  to  present  social  conditions  and 
demands. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  for  a  few  years  to  emphasize 
social  aspects  in  education,  and  it  is  also  a  strong  ne- 
cessity of  our  time  of  rapid  development  of  complex 
social  problems.  But  the  old  individualistic  view  is  the 
essential  antidote  to  extremes  in  social  doctrine,  and 
the  educator  must  be  broad  enough  to  take  in  both 


CONTRASTS  IN  CHILD  AND  IN  SOCDZTY    235 

sides  of  this  comprehensive  situation.  How  to  har- 
monize the  individualistic  and  social  necessities  is  the 
real  difficulty.  There  is  no  fundamental  contradiction, 
which  a  broader,  unpartisan  view  may  not  harmonize. 

The  tendency  toward  antagonisms  between  the  in- 
dividualistic and  the  social  view  in  education  throws  into 
light  a  fundamental  problem  not  only  in  education,  but 
in  political  and  social  organization  for  thousands  of 
years.  Western  civilization,  as  compared  with  Orien- 
tal, has  been  strongly  individualistic.  American  history 
has  shown  thus  far  an  extreme  individualism,  from 
which  it  is  now  trying  to  recover  itself.  In  the  history 
of  education  since  the  time  of  the  Greeks  there  has 
been  a  swinging  back  and  forth  of  the  pendulum  be- 
tween the  extremes  of  individualism  and  social  sub- 
ordination. The  Reformation,  for  example,  was  a  re- 
action against  the  obliteration  of  individualities. 

The  teacher  should  possess  a  clearly  defined  pur- 
pose to  cultivate  a  right  combination  of  individual  and 
social  spirit  in  each  child.  Some  children  suffer  for  lack 
of  social  cultivation,  being  willful  or  selfish.  Others 
are  lacking  in  independence  and  aggressiveness,  and 
are  too  easily  submissive. 

A  society  is  strong  which  has  a  rich  supply  of  pro- 
nounced individualities  and  likewise  a  multitude  of 
vigorous  social  organizations  in  which  these  individuals 
cooperate.  A  personal  character  is  strong  in  which 
both  the  individual  and  social  qualities  are  well  devel- 
oped and  combined.  The  function  of  the  school  is  to 
aid  the  development  of  strong  personalities,  as  many  of 


236    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

them  as  possible,  checking  willfulness  on  one  side,  and 
strengthening  weaker  spirits  on  the  other.  It  draws  the 
more  independent  characters  into  harmony  with  social 
spirit  and  it  arouses  the  feeble  ones  to  greater  inde- 
pendence and  initiative. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  GULF  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

One  reason  why  the  science  of  education  commands 
less  respect  among  thoughtful  people  than  may  be  its 
due  is  a  too  wide  separation  between  theory  and  prac- 
tice. Indeed,  they  are  often  referred  to  as  opposites. 
We  hear  the  remark  that  "Theory  says  one  thing,  but 
practice  the  opposite."  Theory,  however,  should  be  no 
enemy  of  practice.  If  we  were  about  to  employ  an  agri- 
culturist to  take  charge  of  and  manage  a  thousand- 
acre  farm,  we  should  secure  a  man  who  is  the  best  com- 
bination of  good  theory  and  good  practice.  A  mere 
theorist  without  experience  we  would  avoid.  An  un- 
progressive  farmer  would  not  suit  us.  If  we  were  en- 
gaged in  railroad  building  we  should  seek  a  manager 
of  construction  who  is  a  scientific  expert,  and  at  the 
same  time  experienced  on  the  practical  side.  In  all 
kinds  of  technical  work,  theory  and  practice  must 
clasp  hands  as  closely  as  possible. 

The  impractical  theorist  dwells  in  a  region  of  ab- 
stractions, and  even  of  dreams,  and  is  neglectful  of 
facts  and  real  conditions.  The  unscientific,  so-called 
practical  man  is  apt  to  be  narrow  and  hidebound,  stub- 
bornly holding  to  an  unthinking  routine  of  familiar 
experience.  He  lacks  the  wider  range  of  scientific  ideas, 
and  the  progressive  views  by  which  he  might  reinforce 
his  practical  experience. 


238    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEOBJES 

One  might  imagine  that  controversy  between  theory 
and  practice  would  be  out  of  place.  For  the  best  final 
and  complete  success,  each  is  necessary  to  the  other. 
And  yet  in  educational  matters  the  separation  between 
theory  and  practice  often  results  in  sharp  contrast  be- 
tween the  classroom  worker  and  the  bookmaking  theo- 
rist. The  opposing  camps  even  fire  their  broadsides  at 
each  other.  These  antagonisms  grow  out  of  the  extrav- 
agance, faultiness,  and  one-sidedness  of  theories,  and 
from  an  unwillingness  to  work  out  the  practical  results 
of  theory  with  patient  endurance.  Ever  since  Rousseau 
put  forth  his  radical  ideas  of  unrestricted  freedom  for 
children,  noisy  advocates  of  extravagant  theories  have 
not  been  lacking.  For  a  time  enthusiastic  zeal  for  the 
natural  sciences  and  nature-study  prevailed,  and  then 
it  dropped  off,  before  satisfactory  results  had  been 
achieved.  Recently  an  equally  strong  sentiment  for 
vocational  studies  has  arisen,  and  is  now  at  its  height. 
The  pendulum  has  swung  back  and  forth  too  rapidly 
between  extreme  theories  to  allow  time  to  work  out 
permanent  results.  Practice  should  follow  theory  more 
closely  with  substantial  results. 

We  may  note  several  reasons  why  theories  take  on 
these  extravagant  forms :  — 

(1)  It  is  easy  to  elaborate  apparently  good,  or  at 
least  plausible,  theories,  while  the  ability  to  realize 
them  in  daily  practice  falls  notoriously  behind.  It  was 
an  easy  thing  twenty  years  ago  to  introduce  nature- 
study  into  the  school  and  to  defend  it  as  a  theory,  but 
twenty  years  of  experiment  have  not  yet  given  us  a 


GULP  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE     £39 

satisfactory  course  of  study  or  method  of  procedure 
in  nature-lore.  This  failure  to  execute  theories  lends  a 
sort  of  hypocritical  quality  to  much  of  our  educational 
talk  and  discussion. 

(2)  The  theorist  is  often  satisfied  with  his  theories. 
He  deceives  himself  with  the  persuasion  that  he  is  doing 
the  important  brainwork,  while  the  everyday  teacher 
can  look  after  the  details.  This  is  a  case  of  self-decep- 
tion. For  the  hardest  part  of  any  educational  process 
is  to  make  the  theory  work  effectively  in  the  classroom. 
A  real  thinker  can  devise  more  apparently  good  and 
plausible  theories  in  a  day  than  he  can  make  effective 
in  a  month,  or  in  a  year.  In  other  words,  good  class 
teaching  is  itself  one  of  the  finest  of  arts,  and  in  no 
sense  a  mechanical  process  for  inferior  minds.  The 
theorist  is  not  occupied  enough  with  the  most  difficult 
phase  of  his  problem. 

(3)  The  theorist  has  a  way,  too,  of  becoming  enam- 
ored of  his  own  thought  creations,  and  of  being  in- 
hospitable to  those  who  differ  from  him  in  opinion.  He 
is  too  strongly  convinced  of  the  truth  of  his  one  theory. 
He  is  like  Pygmalion  who  made  a  beautiful  statue  and 
then  fell  in  love  with  it. 

(4)  Again,  educational  theory  has  long  been  a  rich 
field  for  quackery,  and  until  clear  and  positive  tests 
are  developed  and  applied,  these  quackeries  are  hard 
to  expose.  Most  educational  tests  are  indecisive  and 
uncertain.  Shallow  results  are  often  showy  and  de- 
ceptive. Even  sound  thinkers  are  not  safe  in  setting 
up  theories  unless  they  frequently  resort  to  practical 


240    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

tests  to  determine  the  soundness  of  their  reasoning. 
The  history  of  philosophy,  that  is,  of  really  great  think- 
ers and  their  systems  of  thought,  reveals,  over  and 
over  again,  the  proneness  of  the  best  reasoners  to  fall 
into  error  when  they  rely  solely  upon  the  mind's  power 
to  construct  theories  and  fail  to  keep  their  thinking 
close  to  the  corrective  facts  of  experience. 

(5)  Again,  theories  have  a  way  of  taking  on  an  ex- 
tremely abstract  form,  as  if  the  more  abstract  the  bet- 
ter —  the  more  incomprehensible,  the  wiser.  It  is  an 
amiable  weakness  of  students,  when  they  have  had  a 
tincture  of  psychology  and  philosophy  at  the  univer- 
sity, to  imagine  themselves  to  be  philosophers.  This 
presumption  of  wisdom  usually  shapes  itself  into  a 
general  theory  so  abstract  that  few  people  can  under- 
stand it.  A  great  deal  of  this  kind  of  wisdom  has  been 
palmed  off  on  teachers.  Their  minds  have  been  wearied 
and  confused  by  theories  that  might  be  good  if  one 
could  understand  and  apply  them. 

(6)  On  account  of  a  complete  opening-up  and  pro- 
gressive expansion  of  American  education  in  recent 
years,  with  the  introduction  of  many  new  studies  and 
the  neglect  and  criticism  of  the  older  curricula,  there 
has  been  a  prolific  crop  of  new  and  more  or  less  extrava- 
gant and  conflicting  theories.  Psychology  has  been 
shifting  its  ground  to  a  physiological  basis,  compelling 
a  restatement  of  fundamental  doctrines.  Scientific 
experimentation  in  the  laboratory  for  testing  mental 
and  physical  reactions  has  delivered  to  us  many  new 
and  valuable  data.     Study  of  children  and  of  their 


GULF  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE     241 

heredity  has  opened  up  broad  fields  of  investigation. 
The  modern  industrial  and  social  conditions  of  life 
have  compelled  a  readjustment  to  new  demands  in 
society.  As  a  result  of  these  energetic  forces,  working 
in  upon  the  school,  education  has  been  the  football  of 
conflicting  theories. 

During  this  period  of  turmoil  the  educational  think- 
ers have  luxuriated  in  thought  creations.  They  have 
sat  in  their  libraries  with  the  memories  of  childhood 
about  them,  elaborating  their  doctrines  as  to  how 
schools  should  be  organized  and  courses  of  study 
planned.  It  is  an  entertaining  and  engrossing  specula- 
tion to  think  out  presumptively  how  these  numerous 
millions  of  oncoming  boys  and  girls  are  to  be  managed 
and  instructed.  As  a  result,  we  have  been  blessed  with 
an  annual  harvest  of  general  treatises  on  education. 
All  this  in  the  natural  order  is  to  be  expected,  and  is 
a  good  thing.  Such  efforts  to  reorganize  educational 
thought  and  to  get  a  better  grasp  of  our  problem  in  its 
main  aspects  are  necessary  steps  in  the  solution  of 
many  difficult  technical  educational  problems.  Theories 
we  are  obliged  to  have,  both  good  and  poor,  and  we 
shall  learn  somehow  to  discriminate  between  them. 

If  we  had  some  way  of  compelling  every  projector  of 
a  theory  to  descend  into  the  arena  of  practice  and  put 
his  theory  to  the  test  in  school  and  classroom,  we 
should  quickly  eliminate  weak  theories,  and  we  should 
soon  get  started  right.  The  theorist  himself  would  be 
brought  to  a  better  judgment.  His  ideas  would  take 
on  a  more  practical  and  obvious  usefulness  which  the 


242    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

rank  and  file  of  teachers  would  begin  to  understand. 
Perhaps  the  wise  man  would  begin  to  understand  better 
his  own  theories  in  the  light  of  experience. 

In  some  cases  the  theorist  has  unintentionally  stood 
far  removed  from  schoolroom  practice,  undisturbed 
by  the  acute  and  baffling  difficulties  that  beset  real 
school- work  and  the  practical  reorganization  of  studies. 
This  divorce  between  theory  and  practice  is  most 
clearly  manifest  in  the  failure  to  apply  principles  to 
the  subject-matter  of  particular  studies,  the  only  place 
where  theories  of  instruction  can  be  applied.  For  ex- 
ample, it  will  be  difficult  to  find  anywhere  a  full  and 
satisfactory  treatment  of  how  to  teach  long-division. 
It  is  very  seldom  that  a  writer  on  general  theory  has 
taken  up  the  subject-matter  of  single  important  topics 
in  a  study  like  arithmetic  and  has  shown  in  detail,  and 
in  full,  concrete  treatment  of  topics,  how  to  organize 
the  material  and  give  it  appropriate  class  treatment. 
It  has  been  impossible  to  get  single  illustrations  of  such 
topics  properly  worked  out  as  to  plan  and  subject-mat- 
ter. In  the  United  States  history,  for  example,  but  few 
important  topics  have  been  well  organized  and  elabo- 
rated into  their  details  for  use  in  grammar  grades. 
This  actual  working-out  of  theories  upon  knowledge 
material  in  cooperation  with  children  brings  a  rude, 
rough-and-tumble  contact  with  reality  which  disturbs 
the  delicate  sensibilities  of  a  comfortable  theorist.  The 
selection  and  presentation  of  topics  in  our  usual  text- 
books is  no  adequate  solution  of  this  problem. 

The  disposition  to  shun  this  direct  schoolroom  work 


GULF  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE     243 

with  children  and  with  concrete  subject-matter  is  an 
intimation  of  professional  weakness.  Not  only  the 
writers  of  pedagogical  books  have  ceased  to  teach 
real  lessons  to  children,  but  superintendents,  super- 
visors, professors  of  pedagogy,  principals  and  directors 
of  schools  —  the  great  body  of  what  may  be  called  edu- 
cational leaders  —  do  not  find  time  to  do  this  kind  of 
fundamental  work.  Some  of  them  have  not  taught  a 
complete  lesson  with  a  class  of  live  children  for  years. 
As  a  result  we  have  a  separation  of  the  personnel  of 
educators  into  two  classes,  the  non-teachers  and  the 
teachers.  On  the  one  side  are  theorists  who  fail  to  show 
the  application  of  their  theories,  and  on  the  other,  the 
actual  teachers  who  do  not  understand  the  theorists, 
and  are  not  guided  rationally  by  fundamental  ideas. 
The  two  classes  do  not  sufficiently  cooperate,  and  nat- 
urally fall  into  mutual  criticism  and  opposition. 

The  actual  teachers  are  much  in  need  of  rational 
theory  to  guide  their  practice.  Teachers  are  not  mak- 
ing the  progress  they  should  for  lack  of  strong,  controll- 
ing theory.  The  Committee  of  Eight  in  History,  for 
example,  worked  out  a  superior  course  of  study  in  his- 
tory. They  selected  and  arranged  the  central  topics 
into  a  better  series  than  had  been  offered  before.  But 
the  illustration  of  topics  given  and  outlined  showed 
a  course  far  too  elaborate  and  extensive  for  children  in 
the  grades.  Forty  large  topics  in  a  single  year  furnish 
twice  as  much  material  as  sixth  or  eighth  grade  chil- 
dren can  work  out  with  a  proper  treatment  and  under- 
standing. These  plan-makers  had  overshot  the  mark 


244    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

and  made  too  strong  demands  upon  teachers  and  chil- 
dren. We  are  in  great  need  to-day  of  expert  thinkers 
and  instructors  who  combine  theory  with  practice, 
whose  doctrines  are  constantly  tested  by  daily  applica- 
tion under  necessary  school  conditions.  In  the  new 
subjects  like  nature-study,  manual  arts,  agriculture, 
domestic  science,  physical  education,  health  and 
sanitation,  we  need  a  strong  union  of  theoretical 
and  practical  knowledge  together  with  skill  in  in- 
struction. But  all  our  studies,  both  old  and  new, 
are  much  in  need  of  reorganization  and  simplifica- 
tion. 

This  very  problem  of  the  new  grouping  of  knowledge 
materials  around  controlling  centers  of  thought  is  the 
most  difficult  a  schoolmaster  can  undertake.  It  is  also 
the  most  neglected  part,  because  it  requires  the  theorist 
to  deal  at  close  quarters  with  a  lot  of  details  of  subject- 
matter  which  he  does  not  like  to  bother  with.  It  de- 
mands thorough  and  intensive  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
jects and,  at  the  same  time,  the  use  of  sound  principles 
of  psychology  and  pedagogy  as  applied  to  the  grouping 
and  development  of  thought  materials.  It  is  surprising 
how  little  the  pedagogical  specialists  are  interested  in 
this  problem  which  involves  the  richer  detailed  knowl- 
edge of  school  studies.  They  toss  it  aside  as  a  mere 
incident.  In  the  old  heroic  days  people  tackled  their 
problems  where  the  chief  difficulty  lay.  They  did  not 
shirk  the  main  issue.  We  need  now,  if  the  present 
chasm  between  theory  and  practice  is  to  be  bridged 
over,  a  fresh  supply  of  the  old  heroism  of  hard  workers 


GULF  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE     245 

who  are  not  ashamed  to  deal  with  the  raw  materials 
of  knowledge  and  to  reorganize  them. 

When  asked  to  help  young  teachers  in  their  effort 
to  work  up  important  topics,  the  theorist  gives  a  few 
general  abstract  maxims  and  furnishes  a  barren  out- 
line for  the  treatment  of  a  topic.  This  is  playing  fast 
and  loose  with  a  serious  problem.  Outlines  have  had 
a  great  vogue,  but  such  outlines  are  well-nigh  worth- 
less. Any  one  with  a  vague  knowledge  of  a  topic  can 
make  what  to  all  appearance  purports  to  be  a  good  out- 
line. I  have  seen  dozens  and  scores  of  such  outlines 
that  are  not  worth  the  paper  they  are  written  on.  They 
are,  in  fact,  misleading  —  they  make  a  pretense  of 
solving  a  problem  without  attacking  its  real  difficul- 
ties. They  are  not  genuine  organizations  of  thought 
material.  A  genuine  outline  is  always  based  upon  a  rich 
body  of  well-digested  knowledge  arranged  according 
to  a  few  central,  closely  organized  topics  and  develop- 
ing strongly  into  an  important  truth.  Such  organiza- 
tions are  the  product  of  long  study  and  reflective  sift- 
ing-out  of  rich  thought  materials. 

The  theorist  may  have  done  little  or  none  of  this 
kind  of  fundamental  thinking,  where  he  is  constantly 
coerced  by  the  nature  of  his  thought  materials  and 
where  his  theoretical  principles  must  conform  to  the 
concrete  requirements  of  stubborn  facts,  both  in  chil- 
dren and  subject-matter.  He  who  will  take  the  trouble 
to  grub  down  into  the  root  knowledge  of  studies,  and 
will  force  his  principles  into  close  adjustment  to  these 
tough  and  refractory  knowledge  materials,  will  learn 


246    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

the  greatest  lesson  of  all,  how  to  yoke  theory  and  prac- 
tice together. 

The  history  of  education  gives  frequent  demonstra- 
tion of  the  folly  of  loose,  careless  theory  unrelated  to 
practice.  The  men  who  have  produced  profound  effects 
in  education  have  been  thinkers  and  philosophers  who 
did  not  shirk  the  hard  work  of  schoolmastering.  Co- 
menius,  Pestalozzi,  Basedow,  Thomas  Arnold,  Herbart, 
Horace  Mann,  and  Francis  Parker  were  genuine  school- 
masters who  rolled  up  their  sleeves,  as  it  were,  and 
went  to  work  in  the  schoolroom.  Their  life-work  and 
struggle  in  the  classroom  are  studied  yet  to  find  out 
how  they  wrought  out  and  applied  their  principles  to 
real  stuff.   They  pioneered  through  actual  difficulties. 

On  the  other  hand,  even  the  greatest  pure  theorists, 
such  as  Plato  in  his  Republic,  Rousseau  in  his  Emile, 
and  Spencer  in  his  Education,  made  surprising  blunders, 
and  half  the  time  of  the  discussion  of  these  authors 
must  be  spent  in  excusing  their  extravagances  and  false 
doctrines,  while  the  other  half  is  used  in  allowing  due 
praise  to  their  fruitful  ideas. 

Many  of  the  recent  books  of  theory  are  not  suffi- 
ciently enriched  with  the  results  of  practice.  We  need 
something  more  than  compilations  tossed  together 
from  a  rapid  survey  of  current  books  and  doctrines. 
Education  is  a  profoundly  difficult  and  laborious' sub- 
ject to  deal  with,  if  the  thinker  will  take  the  pains  to 
subject  all  his  theoretical  ideas  to  the  doubly  difficult 
test  of  crude  knowledge  stuff  and  of  the  crude  develop- 
ing minds  of  children.  To  reduce  these  stubborn  reali- 


GULF  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE     247 

ties  into  a  practical  harmony  is  no  holiday  task.  The 
mere  book  theorist  has  not  grasped  the  significance  of 
this  phase  of  his  problem.  He  is  dabbling  with  his  sub- 
ject and  is  throwing  the  real  burden  back  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  classroom  teacher,  who,  however,  is 
not  fully  qualified  to  meet  it. 

What  classroom  teachers  need  to-day  is  strong  theo- 
retical and  practical  guidance  from  real  leaders  who 
are  earnest  and  thoroughgoing  enough  to  work  out 
detailed  problems  of  instruction.  Our  teachers  have 
had  an  overdose  of  theory  not  well  related  to  practice. 
It  has  been  often  observed  that  pedagogical  literature 
with  few  exceptions  is  dull  reading.  One  reason  for 
this  is  the  vague,  abstract,  and  theoretical  statement 
of  principles.  Many  good  teachers  cannot  think  their 
way  across  the  gap  between  vague  theories  and  con- 
crete schoolroom  practice.  Nor  is  this  chiefly  the  fault 
of  the  average  teacher,  but  rather  of  the  average  theo- 
rist who  does  not  carry  his  thought  far  enough,  or, 
more  likely,  lacks  the  experimental  knowledge  with 
studies  and  children  to  do  so. 

The  first  simple  and  fundamental  test  of  a  good 
schoolmaster,  and  also  of  a  good  theorist,  is  power  to 
illustrate  and  concrete  his  ideas.  This  is  sometimes 
lacking  in  the  educational  theorist,  and  it  is  a  deeply 
unfortunate  deficiency.  Every  teacher  who  reads 
the  theorist's  books  and  falls  into  his  abstract  way  of 
thinking  is  in  so  far  disqualified  from  becoming  a  good 
teacher.  The  blind  leader  and  his  follower  thus  fall  to- 
gether into  the  ditch. 


248    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  relation  of  theory  and 
practice,  our  American  education  is  not  sufficiently 
practical.  It  leaves  a  wide  gap  between  the  two,  and 
this  gap  is  a  foe  to  progress,  and  also  a  foe  to  present 
efficiency.  Theory  has  an  importance  in  the  world 
just  to  the  extent  to  which  it  governs  practice;  beyond 
that,  nothing. 

Every  year  we  have  thousands  of  young  teachers 
who  are  asking  to  be  guided  from  the  land  of  theory 
into  the  land  of  practice.  The  passage  across  this  bor- 
derland is  the  most  difficult  thing  in  education,  and,  to 
say  the  least,  the  leaders  of  American  education  are 
not  skillful  in  inducting  young  people,  by  their  own 
example,  into  skillful  classroom  work.  The  theorists 
themselves  sometimes  cannot  apply  their  theories. 
They  do  not  think  it  necessary  in  some  cases  to  make 
the  attempt.  The  two  things  which  will  qualify  a  per- 
son for  genuine  leadership  in  education  are,  first,  a  high 
degree  of  skill  in  classroom  management  and  instruc- 
tion, and,  second,  great  ability  and  success  in  organiz- 
ing the  detailed  concrete  subject-matter  of  studies 
so  as  to  have  it  in  readiness  for  teaching  purposes  and 
in  proper  adjustment  to  children's  needs.  Without 
these  two  very  difficult  attainments  the  supposed 
leader  in  education  is  a  figurehead  and  a  pretense. 

Schoolmastering  is  a  fine  art  and  the  approach  to 
it  should  be  through  scientific  method.  Scientific 
method  itself  should  be  the  demonstration  of  the  com- 
plete union  between  theory  and  practice.  American 
teachers  cannot  be  convinced  of  the  real  value  of  scien- 


GULF  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE     249 

tific  method,  unless  they  see  it  based  on  sound  theory 
and  backed  up  by  successful  practice.  We  still  believe 
in  the  rule  of  thumb,  that  is,  in  our  ability  to  pick  up 
right  methods  here  and  there  in  a  haphazard  way, 
without  definite,  systematic  study  of  educational  prin- 
ciples and  practice.  The  German  schoolmaster  has  more 
faith  in  scientific  method.  In  preparation  for  the  prac- 
tice of  a  difficult  art  he  is  willing  to  spend  years  in  the 
careful  study  of  the  history  and  scientific  principles  of 
his  art  and  their  application.  Some  of  the  most  emi- 
nent teachers  in  Germany,  at  the  head  of  great  schools, 
are  skillful  classroom  instructors.  Teachmgsafetll  in  the 
classroom  is  the  fundamental  test  of  therschoolmaster's 
professional  standing  and  efficiency.  It  is  the  one 
thing  that  he  can  do  better  than  any  one  else.  It  is  the 
thing  he  has  a  right  to  be  proud  of  as  a  specialist.  It 
is  the  thing  that  absorbs  his  most  serious  intellectual 
and  moral  efforts.  It  is  his  ambition  to  be  a  first-class 
schoolmaster,  in  power  and  efficiency,  and  not  merely 
a  figurehead  at  the  head  of  his  system.  Dr.  Otto  Fricke, 
at  one  time  head  of  the  great  Waisenhaus  Schools  at 
Halle,  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  scholarly 
schoolmasters  in  Germany.  It  was  his  frequent  cus- 
tom to  teach  a  class  of  forty  boys  in  the  presence  of  his 
principals  and  subordinates,  and  then  sit  down  with 
them  at  a  round  table  to  discuss  freely  his  method  of 
procedure. 

Americans  are  supposed  to  be  practical.  At  least, 
they  usually  pride  themselves  on  this  quality  as  a  na- 
tional trait.    In  educational  matters  this  is  not  suffi- 


250    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

ciently  true.  Many  American  leaders  in  education  are 
not  practical  in  the  main  issue.  They  are  not  attacking 
their  problem  in  dead  earnest  at  the  central  point  of 
difficulty,  namely,  the  bridging-over  of  the  passage 
from  theory  to  practice.  It  is  not  that  they  fail  to  theo- 
rize and  to  think  out  principles  and  systems  of  method, 
but  they  do  fail  to  follow  up  the  preliminary  theorizing 
and  planning  with  a  positive  campaign  in  the  field  of 
concrete  studies.  They  turn  over  the  most  difficult 
part  of  the  problem  to  the  thousands  of  schoolroom 
teachers,  half  of  whom  are  not  well  equipped  for  it. 
Even  the  better  class  of  more  experienced  teachers  are 
in  distressing  need  of  masterly  leaders  who  can  get  into 
the  ranks  and  show  how  to  grapple  with  subject-matter 
in  a  lot  of  new  studies,  not  yet  well  organized.  The  situ- 
ation is  pressing,  and  the  demand  for  real,  not  titular, 
leaders  is  great.  Here  is  a  place  where  leaders  are 
needed  in  the  front  ranks  and  not  with  the  baggage- 
train. 

Educational  theories,  as  they  have  been  elaborated 
from  the  minds  of  profound  thinkers  and  tested  by  the 
conditions  of  life  in  and  out  of  school,  are  of  untold 
value,  and  profitable  in  the  full,  unrestricted  sense. 
The  landmarks  of  educational  thought,  as  found  in  the 
writings  of  Plato  and  Quintilian,  of  Erasmus  and 
Comenius,  of  Locke  and  Rousseau,  of  Herbart  and 
Froebel,  if  appreciatively  studied,  enlarge  one's  edu- 
cational horizon  and  give  an  inspiring  idea  of  the  scope 
and  importance  of  education.  Even  the  more  recent 
numerous  treatises  on  education  are  capable  of  pro- 


GULF  BETWEEN  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE     251 

ducing  excellent  results  if  we  can  only  turn  them  into 
direct  practical  channels.  But  pedagogy,  like  theology, 
easily  runs  into  a  dry,  formal  dogmatism.  Both  have 
a  strong  tendency  to  develop  an  isolated  self-suffi- 
ciency, which  separates  them  from  life  interests  and 
soon  lays  them  on  the  shelf. 

There  is  considerable  danger  of  educational  theory 
becoming  a  mere  theoretical  cult,  even  a  pharisaical 
sort  of  self-righteousness,  which  not  only  stands  apart 
from  life  realities,  but  is  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
troubles  and  needs  of  the  real  toilers. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  we  can  make  much  progress 
in  reorganizing  our  course  of  study  —  the  serious 
problem  of  our  time  —  until  a  large  number  of  edu- 
cational thinkers  are  willing  to  grapple  with  subject- 
matter  in  studies  at  close  quarters.  Courses  of  study 
have  been  outlived  by  the  hundred  and  we  can  go  on 
making  hundreds  more  without  material  improvement. 
The  real  problem  lies  lower  down  in  the  depths  of  the 
school  studies,  where  mastery  and  organization  of  sub- 
ject-matter are  called  for.  Outside  of  a  few  experimen- 
tal schools  and  among  quiet,  hard-working  grade  teach- 
ers, who  do  not  know  how  to  discourse  on  pedagogy, 
our  present  schematic  plans  of  outlining  courses  of 
study  are  as  formal  as  the  old  mediaeval  dialectic  of 
the  schoolmen.  A  close,  practical  union  between  edu- 
cational principles  and  daily  practice  in  classroom  work 
is  needed. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    CONTROVERSY    AS    TO    SCHOLARSHIP    AND    A 
SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  OR  PEDAGOGY 

The  teacher  who  wishes  to  gain  skill  and  efficiency 
in  his  work  is  met  by  two  sets  of  advisers  who  are  an- 
tagonistic. Each  party  is  well  assured  of  its  views  as 
correct.  On  one  side  are  the  advocates  of  scholarship, 
on  the  other  side,  of  a  science  of  education.  Neither 
party,  of  course,  would  entirely  ignore  the  claims  of  the 
other,  but  one  party  would  give  preponderance  to 
scholarship,  and  the  other  to  pedagogical  science. 

Complete  and  systematic  knowledge  is  still  regarded 
by  many  well-educated  people,  and  especially  by  in- 
structors in  higher  schools,  as  the  one  important  need 
of  a  teacher.  Any  one  who  possesses  sound  scholar- 
ship, good  sense,  and  some  natural  aptitude  for  deal- 
ing with  children  may  quickly  become  a  good  teacher. 
A  thorough,  liberal  education  is  the  main  thing.  On 
this  assumption  the  higher  schools  and  colleges  and 
universities  are  yearly  turning  out  thousands  of  would- 
be  teachers  who  have  had  little  or  no  special  training 
in  psychology,  pedagogy,  or  the  history  of  education, 
to  say  nothing  of  experimental  training  in  teaching. 

It  is  hardly  possible,  in  truth,  to  overestimate  the 
value  to  a  teacher  of  a  comprehensive  liberal  educa- 
tion in  history,  in  literature,  in  the  sciences,  in  geo- 
graphy, in  languages,  in  mathematics,  in  music,  and 


SCHOLARSHIP  AND  PEDAGOGY  253 

the  fine  arts.  When  broad  culture  is  combined  with 
sound  scholarship  and  social  cultivation,  we  have  a 
highly  superior  equipment  for  the  teacher.  People 
of  this  persuasion  feel  that  to  substitute  anything  else 
for  scholarship  is  a  mere  pretense.  Pedagogy  and  psy- 
chology and  child-study  may  be  of  some  value,  but  they 
are  in  no  sense  the  main  consideration.  The  advocates 
of  this  view  are  a  strong  and  influential  body  among 
educators,  and  they  have,  besides  their  own  personal 
experience,  a  historical  background  upon  which  to 
strengthen  their  conviction. 

Opposed  to  this  view  stands  a  second  company  of 
progressive  educators  who  believe  strongly  in  a  science 
of  education,  in  a  group  of  simple,  fundamental  prin- 
ciples which  control  the  processes  of  teaching  and 
which  must  be  understood  by  those  who  attain  success 
in  teaching.  These  principles  have  been  organized  into 
a  system  of  procedure  far  more  effective  than  the  hap- 
hazard plans  of  one  who  has  not  studied  education  as 
a  science.  Psychology  and  child-study  and  the  his- 
tory of  education  have  been  worked  over  by  philo- 
sophical thinkers  into  a  body  of  educational  doctrine 
which  furnishes  at  least  the  safe  beginnings  of  a  science 
of  education.  All  teachers  will  be  strengthened  in  power 
and  resource  if  they  will  spend  some  time  in  the  care- 
ful study  of  these  principles,  and  in  learning,  in  prac- 
tice schools  under  experienced  critics,  to  apply  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  advocates  of  scientific  method 
claim  that  the  most  thorough  scholarship  is  not  a  suf- 
ficient preparation  for  teaching.  Many  excellent  schol- 


254    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

ars  have  completely  failed  as  teachers.  Even  a  student 
of  fine  scholarship  and  of  much  natural  aptitude  for 
teaching  will  make  many  blunders  and  pass  through  a 
too  long  period  of  apprenticeship  to  teaching  if  he  has 
not  studied  the  scientific  principles  of  education  and 
has  had  no  critical  training  in  teaching.  The  practice 
of  teaching,  being  very  complicated  in  its  processes, 
needs  to  be  regulated  by  carefully  devised  plans.  The 
waste  of  time  by  untrained  teachers  who  presume  to 
practice  a  difficult  art  without  any  preparation  except 
scholarship  is  enormous.  No  good  business  could  be 
conducted  effectively  on  such  a  basis. 

Presupposing  a  sound  scholarship  there  are  at  least 
three  lines  of  practical  preparation  which  the  oncom- 
ing teacher  needs  to  reflect  upon  and  to  think  out  to 
a  conclusion.  First,  are  the  natural  mental  processes 
explained  in  our  scientific  psychology.  They  are  basal 
for  all  proper  study  and  mental  effort.  Second,  child- 
study  which  includes  the  stages  of  growth  through 
which  children  pass,  and  the  predominant  impulses, 
interests,  and  characteristics  shown  by  children  in  their 
development.  One  who  ignores  these  qualities  of  hu- 
man nature  can  spend  several  years  in  stupid  blunder- 
ing to  the  misfortune  of  all  concerned.  Third,  is  the 
special  pedagogy  of  different  school  studies.  Experi- 
enced teachers  who  have  given  their  lives  to  the  ardu- 
ous and  successful  work  of  teaching  find  that  each  study 
has  peculiar  difficulties  and  modes  of  treatment,  which 
experience  has  brought  clearly  into  evidence.  These 
need  to  be  understood  by  the  young  teachers  as  a 


SCHOLARSHIP  AND  PEDAGOGY  255 

means  of  efficiency  and  for  the  avoidance  of  a  long 
train  of  errors  and  miscarriages.  The  history  of  educa- 
tion gives  a  fourth  line  of  practical  suggestion  to 
teachers  by  setting  forth  in  striking  illustration  the 
blunders  and  successes  of  individual  educators  in  the 
past  and  the  slow  evolution  of  fundamental  principles 
in  teaching.  It  is  a  strong  antidote  to  one-sidedness 
and  opinionated  doctrines  in  young  students. 

The  advocates  of  a  science  of  education  as  a  practi- 
cal basis  for  teaching  are  not  opposed  to  scholarship, 
although  they  may  seem  at  times  to  ignore  scholarship, 
in  their  devotion  to  scientific  theories  and  pedagogy. 
There  has  been  some  disposition  to  criticize  and  depre- 
cate pedagogical  studies  as  carried  on  in  departments 
of  education  in  the  colleges  and  universities,  and  in 
normal  schools,  on  the  ground  of  neglect  of  scholarship. 
It  is  natural  that  some  faults  along  this  line  should 
show  themselves,  but  in  such  schools  it  will  be  found 
that  three  fourths  of  the  time  and  often  more  are  de- 
voted to  strictly  scholarly  pursuits,  that  is,  to  aca- 
demic studies,  and  usually  in  a  very  thorough  and  dis- 
ciplinary treatment  of  those  studies.  The  great  success 
that  normal-school  graduates  have  had  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  in  collegiate  and  university  studies  is 
ample  proof  of  this.  The  colleges  and  universities  are 
pleased  to  get  these  products  of  normal -school  training 
because  of  their  studious  habits  and  actual  attainments. 
The  supercilious  criticism  that  has  been  directed 
against  pedagogical  training  on  this  account  is  prob- 
ably due  to  narrowness  and  lack  of  sympathy  of  the 


256    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEOPJES 

critics.  If  the  advocates  of  pedagogical  training  were 
disposed  to  return  the  sharpness  of  criticism,  they 
might  suggest  that  nowhere  are  improved  methods  of 
teaching  more  seriously  demanded  than  among  those 
teachers  in  higher  schools  who  criticize  pedagogical 
science.  The  amount  of  inefficient  teaching  in  colleges 
and  universities  has  been  often  acknowledged  and 
bewailed  by  good  authorities. 

This  controversy  between  the  advocates  of  scholar- 
ship and  of  a  science  of  teaching  would  not  deserve 
attention  but  for  the  fact  that  most  teachers  have  a 
strong  leaning  toward  one  side  or  the  other.  In  reality 
good  teaching  involves  both,  and  a  full  measure  of 
each.  The  usual  knowledge  gained  in  higher  and  lower 
schools,  considered  merely  from  the  standpoint  of 
knowledge,  is  entirely  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  a 
good  teacher.  In  preparation  for  teaching,  every  study 
ought  to  be  gone  over  again  more  thoroughly,  its  ma- 
terials better  organized  and  mastered,  and  the  concrete 
and  illustrative  phases  extensively  elaborated.  Every 
teacher  should  have  such  a  knowledge  of  his  subject 
that  he  is  the  master  rather  than  the  slave  of  his  text. 
Such  masterly  knowledge  of  school  studies  is  unusual 
even  in  colleges  and  universities.  Fortunately  the 
critics  are  demanding  a  much  higher  scholarship  than 
they  themselves  fulfill.  The  fault  of  our  young  college 
graduates  who  try  to  teach  is  that  they  are  not  mas- 
ters of  their  subjects  on  the  scholarship  side.  They  are 
superficial.  They  do  not  come  up  to  the  mark  which 
they  themselves  set.    Notoriously  the  young  gradu- 


SCHOLARSHIP  AND  PEDAGOGY  257 

ates  of  colleges  and  universities  entering  upon  high- 
school  work  are  clumsy  teachers.  They  lack  suffi- 
cient scholarship  for  first-class  teaching.  After  they 
have  taught  and  illustrated  the  subject  several  times 
with  children,  they  gain  that  thoroughness  and  rich- 
ness of  knowledge  essential  to  a  teacher. 

But  combined  with  this  superior  knowledge  and  di- 
recting its  use  in  teaching,  there  should  be  a  practical  ^ 
insight  into  the  principles  of  teaching  and  an  appreci- 
ative knowledge  of  children,  of  their  temper  and  moods, 
and  of  their  mental  habits.  It  is  only  gradually  that 
most  teachers  get  a  clear  appreciation  of  the  intellec- 
tual processes  and  impulsive  feelings  of  children.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  young  teachers  should  plunge  into 
these  complicated  problems  of  teaching  without  much 
plan  or  foresight.  But  experienced  teachers  should 
know  better,  and  should  realize  that  a  preliminary 
instruction  in  the  psychology  of  mental  habit  and  child 
life,  under  an  experienced  teacher,  would  forewarn 
beginners  against  many  blunders  and  point  out  the 
chief  avenues  of  success.  The  greatest  of  all  these  diffi- 
culties is  not  scholarship  alone,  even  of  the  best  kind, 
nor  is  it  the  mastery  of  psychology  alone,  and  of  the 
doctrines  of  teaching  based  upon  it,  but  rather  the 
practical  combination  of  fine  scholarship  with  scienti- 
fic insight.  Skill  in  teaching  and  educating  children  is 
a  fine  art  which  combines  these  divergent  elements 
into  one  product  known'  as  social  expertness  and  tact. 
The  application  of  school-acquired  knowledge  to  the 
conditions  of  life  is  always  an  arduous  problem.   It  is 


258    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

no  less  so  in  the  affairs  of  teaching.  The  mere  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  by  a  trained  scholar  is  a  relatively 
easy  thing.  The  teacher,  on  the  contrary,  is  working 
with  immature  minds  which  have  not  yet  habituated 
themselves  to  the  processes  of  learning,  but  are  in  the 
making,  with  all  the  tumult  and  resistance  incident  to 
getting  the  mind  under  control.  The  teacher  is  working 
at  the  very  smelting  process,  the  point  of  difficulty 
where  new,  uncomprehended  knowledge  meets  this 
tumult  of  the  child's  mind.  In  every  new  lesson  he 
has  pioneering  difficulties  to  meet.  To  guide  twenty 
children  of  widely  differing  capacity  so  that  they  keep 
step,  as  they  advance  together  through  a  new  and  diffi- 
cult line  of  thought,  is  a  bold  undertaking. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  real  ground  of  controversy. 
The  advocates  of  scholarship  are  not  only  justified  in 
their  demand,  but  it  should  be  made  stronger.  They 
are  right  far  beyond  what  they  have  claimed.  Those 
who  call  for  scientific  principles  in  the  educator  and 
for  skill  in  the  application  of  these  principles  to  chil- 
dren and  to  studies  are  making  a  very  moderate  and 
reasonable  demand.  They  could  insist  more  stringently 
upon  thorough  training  in  the  principles  and  upon 
skill  in  the  applied  art.  Thorough  knowledge  and  its 
psychologic  process  are  one.  The  teacher  must  some- 
how provide  for  both  these  things  and  then  compass 
the  still  greater  task  of  finding  the  harmonious  unity 
of  these  two  elements. 

Herein  lies  true  economy  in  educational  processes. 


SCHOLARSHIP  AND  PEDAGOGY  259 

In  the  common  trades  the  application  of  scientific 
method  has  produced  notable  economies  of  very  re- 
cent date.  In  education,  it  is  difficult  to  get  at  such 
economies,  because  the  processes  are  more  compli- 
cated and  elusive.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the 
waste  in  uneconomical  and  bungling  methods  of  teach- 
ing and  school  management  is  enormous.  They  show 
their  hurtful  effects  later  in  business  and  in  life-work 
of  all  kinds.  In  our  school  training  of  children,  if  we 
could  apply  scientific  method  to  thorough  and  well- 
organized  knowledge  in  all  studies,  we  should  form 
and  strengthen  those  mental  habits  which  contrib- 
ute directly  to  efficiency  in  all  the  common  occu- 
pations. 

Poor  teaching  is  more  wasteful  than  poor  work  in 
industrial  pursuits.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  the 
statement  from  experienced  and  discerning  teachers 
that  half  the  time  in  schoolrooms  is  wasted.  But  poor 
teaching  is  not  only  wasteful  at  the  moment,  it  incul- 
cates bad  habits  that  will  go  on  wasting  for  fifty  years 
to  come.  A  science  of  education,  and  an  art  of  teach- 
ing based  upon  it,  should  get  at  this  waste.  The  wide 
range  of  knowledge  required  for  teaching,  and  the 
complexity  and  variety  of  activities  which  the  teacher 
must  guide  successfully,  make  a  powerful  demand  for 
an  economic  organization  of  his  work;  first,  sound  prin- 
ciples upon  which  to  base  his  action,  and  second,  eco- 
nomic and  time-saving  devices  throughout  all  the  de- 
tails of  his  work.    To  teach  one  subject  to  one  child 


260    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

successfully  is  a  rare  achievement.  To  teach  thirty 
children  in  eight  or  ten  subjects,  daily,  at  the  same  time 
directing  wisely  their  social  activities  and  moral  tend- 
encies, is  a  thing  that  requires  every  aid  that  previous 
experience  and  reflection  can  supply. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THREE  PAIRS  OF  DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION 
I.    CONSERVATIVES   AND   PROGRESSIVES 

The  opposition  between  conservatives  and  progres- 
sives shows  itself  in  education  as  in  politics.  The  con- 
servatives naturally  desire  to  hold  fast  the  good  fea- 
tures of  the  old  education,  the  things  which  centuries 
of  experience  have  shown  to  be  valuable.  Among  those 
things  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  approved  by 
long  experience  may  be  named  the  following:  the  old 
classical  tradition  of  the  ancient  languages;  the  doctrine 
of  formal  and  mental  discipline;  the  concept  of  distinct 
mental  faculties  such  as  memory,  observation,  reason- 
ing; the  notion  of  a  perfect  individual  expressed  in  the 
phrase,  "the  harmonious  evolution  of  all  the  human 
faculties";  the  thorough  mastery  of  the  formal  studies, 
reading,  writing,  spelling,  arithmetic,  and  grammar; 
the  strict  notions  of  moral  responsibility  and  obedience 
to  authority;  and  finally  the  textbook  method  of  as- 
signing, learning,  and  reciting  lessons.  These  are  some 
of  the  good  old  doctrines  and  practices  which  conserv- 
atives hold  fast,  partly  from  habit  and  temperament, 
and  partly  because  they  have  been  tested  and  approved 
as  satisfactory.  These  adherents  of  the  old  ideas  and 
practices  reject  the  new  theories  and  methods  as  fads, 
as  extravagances,  or  as  untried  fancies  of  enthusiasts : 


262    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

reform  movements  in  education  they  consider  as  one- 
sided and  partisan.  The  reformers  set  up  high  expecta- 
tions that  are  not  realized  in  the  event.  They  come  far 
short  of  bringing  the  promised  returns.  The  old  stand- 
ard methods  in  education  are  usually  more  successful 
than  the  new,  because  it  takes  a  long  time  to  get  new 
methods  into  working  order.  Reforms  in  education 
are  usually  disappointing  to  all  concerned.  They  come 
in  waves  of  fashion  and  subside  while  the  old  fashions 
return.  In  the  last  twenty-five  years  we  have  had  a 
rapid  succession  of  reform  movements,  such  as  the 
kindergarten,  natural  science  and  nature-study,  the 
elective  system,  physical  geography,  classical  English 
literature,  manual  training,  the  Herbartian  movement, 
child-study,  and  more  recently,  agriculture  and  voca- 
tional training.  None  of  these  propagandas  have  had 
any  such  success  as  their  advocates  at  first  expected. 
All  of  them  have  left  permanent  influences  that  have 
changed  to  some  extent  our  ideas  and  practices  in  the 
schools. 

The  conservatives  perform  one  very  important  serv- 
ice, —  they  keep  up  the  continuity  of  our  develop- 
ment, they  hold  us  to  our  moorings  so  that  we  do  not 
lose  our  connections  with  the  past.  Education  must  be 
deeply  historical  and  traditional.  Foremost  of  all,  edu- 
cation must  hand  down  traditional  culture,  the  best 
ideas  and  spiritual  treasures  that  a  long  historical  past 
has  accumulated  and  preserved.  This  traditional  cul- 
ture constitutes  the  main  body  of  our  courses  of  study. 
In  this  sense  education,  in  its  very  nature,  is  conserv- 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION       263 

ative  and  preservative.  It  has  immense  faith  in  the 
past,  and  it  discredits  the  brand-new  enthusiasms  of 
the  present. 

But  in  our  day  educational  reformers  have  had  their 
inning,  and  have  introduced  a  whole  series  of  radical 
changes.  The  last  thirty  years  have  seen,  in  the  course 
of  study  and  in  modes  of  teaching,  the  most  remark- 
able reforms  that  have  been  known  in  many  gen- 
erations. In  all  kinds  of  schools,  high  and  low,  im- 
portant new  studies  have  been  introduced  and  the 
course  of  study  reorganized.  The  reformers  claim  that 
these  changes  are  a  necessary  adjustment  to  the  great 
revolutions  that  have  taken  place  in  industrial  and 
social  life  and  in  scientific  progress  generally.  The  re- 
form movement,  which  began  with  Comenius  three 
hundred  years  ago,  has  been  gaining  in  power  and 
influence  through  all  the  years,  but  its  effects  have 
reached  a  climax  in  our  time  that  has  almost  upset 
some  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  that  have  swayed 
education  for  centuries. 

It  is  well  to  consider  briefly  what  ideas  have  impelled 
the  reformers  to  these  radical  changes.  The  feeling 
was  very  marked  among  progressive  educators  that  our 
old  classical  course  of  study  was  too  subservient  to  a 
long  distant  past  and  blind  to  the  strong  and  power- 
fully developing  needs  of  a  new  economic  and  social 
status,  where  the  natural  sciences,  modern  languages, 
the  history  and  politics  of  the  present,  must  control. 
Childhood  itself  in  all  its  phases  has  been  sympathetic- 
ally, and  to  some  degree  scientifically,  studied,  so  as  to 


264    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

bring  the  other  half  of  the  educational  problem  more 
clearly  to  our  conscious  recognition.  The  kindergarten, 
the  child-study  movement,  the  ideas  of  child  freedom, 
and  the  gentler,  more  parental,  treatment  of  children, 
the  doctrines  of  interest  and  apperception,  the  juvenile 
court,  the  care  of  defectives,  abnormal  cases  and  health 
conditions,  playgrounds  and  physical  training,  are 
clear  symptoms  of  this  greater  regard  for  childhood. 

The  demand  for  social  and  industrial  adjustment  to 
life  surroundings  has  been  a  marked  feature  of  recent 
reforms.  American  history  and  civics,  commercial 
and  industrial  geography,  lessons  in  applied  science, 
health,  sanitation,  etc.,  work  in  shops,  gardens,  and 
agriculture,  commercial  and  business  studies  in  the 
high  school,  domestic  science  and  special  vocational 
training,  are  unmistakable  signs  that  people  are  de- 
manding of  the  schools  useful  knowledge  and  practical 
skill. 

At  the  same  time  there  has  been  a  decided  revival  of 
interest  in  modern  literature  and  idealism,  in  fine  art 
and  music,  in  artistic  design  in  the  arts  and  crafts,  in 
home  and  school  decoration.  The  use  of  the  old  myths 
and  stories  of  folklore,  of  tales  of  chivalry  and  modern 
classics,  mixed  with  Greek  and  Norse  legends,  are  signs 
that  we  have  been  searching  among  the  treasures  of  all 
national  literatures  for  the  best  educative  thought- 
material  that  the  fruitful  imagination  of  poets  and 
artists  has  produced.  It  is  accordingly  claimed  by  the 
reformers  that  there  has  been  an  astonishing  enrich- 
ment of  the  real  experience  and  vitalizing  thought 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION       265 

needed  to  stimulate  the  mental  and  physical  powers  of 
children.  The  course  of  study  has  been  lifted  out  of  its 
old  formalities,  its  dry  and  fruitless  drills,  its  uninspir- 
ing routine.  On  the  one  side,  the  new  course  of  study 
is  intensely  utilitarian,  dealing  with  industries,  with 
games  and  health  exercises,  with  shops  and  kitchens, 
with  farms  and  factories;  on  the  other  side,  it  is  idealis- 
tic and  fanciful,  dealing  with  all  possible  poetical  and 
imaginative  ideas  and  situations.  It  is  cultural,  moral, 
and  intellectual;  but  it  is  also  physical,  industrial, 
materialistic. 

But  these  reforms  have  come  on  so  rapidly  and  have 
run  into  and  succeeded  one  another  in  such  a  bewilder- 
ing chaos  of  contradictory  demands,  that  nobody  has 
been  able  to  keep  up  practically  with  the  theoretical 
advances.  It  has  been  as  yet  impossible  to  make  even 
the  good  ideas  involved  in  these  sweeping  reform  move- 
ments strong  realities  in  school  and  classroom.  The 
problem  is  far  more  difficult  than  the  mere  outside  ob- 
server can  imagine.  Actual  educational  reform  moves 
very  slowly.  The  progressives  have  introduced  enough 
important  reform  movements,  during  the  last  thirty 
years,  to  keep  us  and  our  successors  busy  for  the  next 
hundred  years  in  bringing  them  into  full  practical  oper- 
ation. The  thing  to  do  now  is  to  take  stock,  survey  the 
whole  situation,  sift  out  the  leading  ideas,  organize  all 
these  forces  into  a  working  plan,  and  get  industriously 
to  work  to  realize  upon  our  mixed  accumulation  of 
ideas  and  materials. 

What  attitude  should  we  as  teachers  take  toward 


266    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEOPJES 

conservatives  and  progressives  in  education?  Our 
present  course  of  study  is  a  pretty  fair  mixture  or  com- 
posite of  these  contending  influences.  Our  methods  of 
teaching  and  governing  have  also  been  changing  and 
shifting  under  the  pressure  of  these  forces.  The  average 
teacher  at  present  is  upon  a  somewhat  tempestuous 
sea,  and  must  be  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the 
force  of  the  waves.  He  needs  to  ballast  his  educational 
craft  with  sound  doctrines  derived  from  the  reflective 
study  of  the  important  conservative  and  progressive 
thinkers.  He  must  weigh  out  and  test  the  relative  val- 
ues of  more  or  less  conflicting  theories. 

It  is  not  safe  to  throw  one's  self  unreservedly  into 
the  hands  either  of  the  reformers  or  conservatives. 
The  inevitable  result  will  be  a  compromise  or  readjust- 
ment between  the  two,  and  the  best  thing  the  teacher 
can  do  is  to  take  in  as  well  as  possible  the  whole  situa- 
tion on  both  sides,  and  to  find  a  balanced  relation  be- 
tween conservative  and  progressive  principles.  On  the 
one  side  it  is  foolish  to  assume  that  hundreds  of  years  of 
earnest,  laborious  efforts  by  the  ablest  thinkers  and 
schoolmasters  have  not  resulted  in  the  most  valuable 
principles  and  practices  in  education.  Men  like  Sturm, 
Ascham,  Comenius,  Pestalozzi,  Herbart,  and  Arnold 
have  not  labored  in  vain. 

On  the  other  side,  progressive  theories  of  education 
which  spring  from  fundamental  changes  in  the  organ- 
ization of  society,  and  from  deep  psychological  and 
social  research,  are  not  to  be  ignored.  It  is  the  reflective 
study  of  both  sides  of  educational  movements,  the 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION        £67 

conservative  and  the  progressive,  that  will  put  the 
teacher  in  position  to  face  the  problems  of  the  present 
and  to  strike  a  well-balanced  judgment  in  controver- 
sies. 

Unless  a  large  number  of  teachers  among  us  become 
imbued  with  the  best  conservative  and  progressive 
principles,  so  as  to  hold  them  in  balance,  education  will 
swing  more  or  less  violently  from  one  extreme  to  an- 
other, and  a  steady  evolution  into  better  procedures  in 
schools  will  be  hindered.  The  characteristic  of  the 
teacher  should  be  that  large-mindedness  which  sees 
both  sides  of  a  problem  and  forestalls  controversy.  It 
does  not  mean  feebleness  of  thought  or  lack  of  convic- 
tion. 

In  fact,  conservatives  stand  as  the  protectors  of  a 
most  valuable  treasure  of  educational  thought  and 
experience.  Progressives  likewise  are  inspired  with 
ideas  of  salutary  reform  and  improvement  in  educa- 
tion. The  real  teacher  should  maintain  an  open  and 
judicial  mind  for  both  sides  and  a  strong  enthusiasm 
for  combining  these  merits  into  a  larger  whole. 

II.    SECULAR   VERSUS   MORAL   EDUCATION 

The  conviction  has  been  often  expressed  that  our 
education  is  secular,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other, 
that  it  lacks  the  higher  moral  sanction.  The  complaint 
is  periodically  heard  that  public-school  education  has 
failed  in  improving  the  morals  of  the  people;  that  there 
is,  in  spite  of  increasing  intelligence,  a  serious  lack  of 
moral  training;  and  that  our  whole  system  of  education 


268    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

needs  to  be  reorganized  on  a  sounder  ethical  basis.  On 
this  consideration  there  seems  to  be  a  practical  contra- 
diction between  moral  and  secular  education. 

Now  it  will  be  admitted  that  moral  training  and 
moral  character  are  necessary  and  fundamental  in  any 
system  of  education,  and  if  this  basal  requirement  is 
neglected,  the  whole  structure  is  weak  as  to  its  most 
essential  quality.  There  should  be  no  weakness  nor 
compromise  in  the  demand  for  fundamental  morality 
as  the  basal  principle  of  all  popular  education. 

Various  proposals  have  been  made  toward  strength- 
ening the  moral  tone  and  moral  influence  of  schools  and 
teachers.  Specific  moral  lessons  have  been  advocated. 
The  reading  of  the  Bible  in  schools,  a  more  definitely 
conscious  moral  use  of  biographies,  of  literary  classics 
and  of  history  topics  having  a  rich  moral  content,  an 
improvement  in  the  moral  standards  of  teachers,  and 
an  effort  to  use  the  social  government  and  discipline  of 
the  schools  as  a  means  of  teaching  and  enforcing  moral 
obligations  —  all  these  and  other  special  suggestions 
have  been  offered  as  means  of  moral  uplift  and  rein- 
forcement. In  fact,  there  has  been  in  the  minds  of 
teachers  and  of  other  people  interested  in  education  a 
separation  between  moral  and  intellectual  training. 

The  disciplinary  studies  like  algebra,  geometry,  and 
the  languages  have  been  chiefly  regarded  as  mental 
drills,  as  whetstones  to  the  intellect.  The  richer  thought 
studies,  such  as  geography,  natural  science,  and  his- 
tory, have  been  thought  of  and  treated  chiefly  as 
informational.  The  whole  point  of  view  and  method  of 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION       269 

teaching  these  subjects  has  emphasized  this  non-moral 
attitude. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  thought  of  moral  educa- 
tion as  a  separate  thing,  consisting  of  moral  lectures, 
the  learning  of  moral  precepts,  the  study  of  the  Bible; 
in  short,  the  institution  of  some  separate  and  special- 
ized forms  of  moral  training.  The  intellect  and  the 
moral  sensibilities  have  been  cut  apart  as  if  belonging 
to  different  realms.  Thus  an  artificial  contrariety  has 
been  established  between  the  two  forms  of  culture. 

But  human  experience  and  knowledge  are  not  by 
nature  cut  up  into  these  opposed  elements.  The  mind 
works  as  a  whole,  and  not  in  fragments  or  in  sections. 
We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  use  of  studies  for  mental 
discipline,  but  we  do  object  to  the  degrading  of  great 
moral  studies  like  literature,  history,  and  social  science 
to  mere  hack-work  in  mental  drill.  When  we  learn  to 
treat  these  great  studies  with  an  eye  single  to  their 
fundamental  ideas,  that  is,  to  get  at  their  real  content 
and  meaning,  we  shall  have  no  just  complaint  that 
moral  education  is  neglected  on  that  side.  Our  narrow 
and  one-sided  use  of  studies  is  responsible  for  this  re- 
sult. Let  us  observe  that  the  secular  character  of  our 
studies  is,  in  no  proper  sense,  opposed  to  moral  culture, 
or  even  responsible  for  moral  deficiencies  in  education. 

Our  whole  course  of  study  is  rapidly  becoming  fun- 
damentally racial  and  social,  i.e.,  moral.  When  we  say 
that  the  underlying  purpose  of  education  is  to  socialize 
as  well  as  to  individualize  the  child,  we  are  but  ex- 
pressing in  a  different  way  the  controlling  moral  pur- 


270    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

pose  of  the  school.  No  single  study  or  group  of  studies 
can  give  a  child  his  proper  moral  bent  and  training, 
because  all  education  in  every  study  and  in  every  phase 
of  discipline  is  moral.  To  be  of  real  value  all  studies  are 
focused  upon  the  moral  aim,  or,  better,  are  inherently 
involved  in  the  moral  movement.  Moral  education  is 
too  important  to  be  delegated  to  any  one  study  or  one 
set  of  influences.  It  must  permeate  the  whole;  it  must 
be  omnipresent;  it  must  dominate  all  phases  of  instruc- 
tion and  of  school  management.  This  is  no  mere  verbal 
sentiment. 

Slowly  the  higher  values  are  gaining  recognition  in 
education,  and  the  highest  values  are  moral.  The  mod- 
ern enrichment  of  the  course  of  study  in  history  and 
biography,  in  commercial  and  economic  geography,  in 
literature  and  reading,  in  the  social  and  practical  uses 
of  science,  in  social  games  and  amusements,  and  in  the 
industrial  arts,  all  have  a  distinctive  moral  emphasis  as 
dealing  with  the  social  and  moral  needs  in  the  organ- 
ization of  society. 

We  have  been  too  much  inclined  to  think  that  morals 
must  be  taught  as  a  separate  subject  like  arithmetic  or 
grammar.  But  morality  should  spring  out  of  all  sub- 
jects and  out  of  all  the  social  life  and  conduct  of  the 
school.  Important  ideas  are  rapidly  becoming  the 
organizing  centers  of  school  studies.  They  are  but  few 
in  number  and  possess  far-reaching  organizing  influ- 
ence. Foremost  among  these,  and  deeply  embedded  in 
history,  literature,  and  social  science  and  school  disci- 
pline, are  the  moral  ideals  of  our  race  and  of  present 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION       271 

society.  What  we  need  to  do  is  to  keep  clearly  in  mind 
the  essential  purpose  of  the  school  to  develop  sound 
character,  and  then  handle  all  school  subjects  in  that 
natural  relation  to  life  and  its  duties  which  springs 
directly  from  the  nature  of  these  studies  and  their 
bearing  on  life  problems.  Morality  thus  is  genuine  and 
essential  and  universal. 

In  this  respect  all  secular  studies  become  moral  in 
tone  and  purpose,  because  they  are  the  embodiment  of 
moral  life  principles  in  the  essential  organization  of 
studies  as  related  to  men's  lives  and  enterprises  in 
society. 

There  are,  indeed,  some  studies,  like  history,  litera- 
ture, and  economics,  and  economic  geography,  which 
are  so  full  of  human  life  and  interest  that  the  moral 
elements  are  conspicuous,  while  other  studies,  like 
mathematics  and  science  in  their  purely  academic 
treatment,  are  non-moral,  but  in  their  relation  to  the 
aim  of  education  and  social  values  they  become  vitally 
related  to  human  welfare. 

III.    GENERAL   TRAINING  AND   VOCATION 

Another  contrast  that  appears  in  our  educational 
theory  and  discussion  is  that  between  general  and 
special  training,  between  what  we  call  a  broad,  liberal 
culture  on  the  one  side,  and  special  or  vocational  train- 
ing on  the  other. 

It  has  been  a  strong  feeling  of  the  schoolmaster  that 
the  studies  and  discipline  of  the  common  school  are 
selected  and  designed  so  as  to  give  all  children  that 


272    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORD3S 

liberal  equipment  of  knowledge  and  those  habits  of 
work  and  conduct  which  will  broadly  fit  them  for  any 
station  in  life.  For  the  general  purposes  of  living  and 
for  easy  adjustment  to  the  social  order,  every  child 
needs  history,  science,  geography,  literature,  music, 
mathematics,  the  arts,  and  proper  behavior.  A  long 
period  of  schooling  is  required,  from  six  to  fourteen, 
and,  in  some  cases,  much  longer,  to  give  a  child  this 
varied  equipment  for  life  problems  and  duties.  As 
society  grows  more  complex  in  its  structure  and  more 
varied  in  its  demands  upon  the  individual,  it  requires 
a  still  longer  time  to  secure  these  common  and  universal 
accomplishments.  The  widening-out  of  the  course  of 
study  in  several  new  directions  is  the  expression  of  these 
expanding  demands  that  the  world  is  making  upon 
young  people  as  they  leave  the  school. 

Business  men,  on  the  other  side,  and  those  who  like 
to  be  called  practical  educators,  have  always  claimed 
that  school  studies  should  prepare  more  directly  for 
business  life,  and  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  say  that 
the  grammar  school  should  prepare  for  vocational  pur- 
suits, that  is,  should  cultivate  specialized  skill  in  cer- 
tain trades  and  industries.  Just  at  the  present  time 
this  demand  is  very  strong  and  is  gaining  much  popular 
acclaim  and  support.  This  brings  on  a  certain  conflict 
between  those  who  favor  a  broad  general  education, 
common  to  all,  without  regard  to  future  calling,  and 
those  who  advocate  special  vocational  training. 

It  may  be  said,  without  much  fear  of  contradiction, 
that  both  these  contrasted  forms  of  training  are  neces- 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION        273 

sary  for  every  human  being  who  fills  his  proper  place  as 
an  adult  in  society.  He  must  be  educated  up  to  the 
point  where  he  can  respond  intelligently  and  promptly 
to  all  the  general  requirements  of  a  citizen  in  the  mani- 
fold relations  to  society  at  large.  He  must  also  become 
an  expert  in  some  vocational  line  of  work,  where  a  high 
degree  of  skill  and  proficiency  is  demanded.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  necessity  for  this  double  educa- 
tional proficiency  in  each  person.  It  is  also  true  that,  if 
both  these  results  are  to  be  attained  in  the  common 
school,  the  field  of  its  important  activities  must  be 
greatly  enlarged;  for  the  general  studies  of  the  school, 
already  incorporated  into  the  course,  are  more  exten- 
sive than  we  can  master  under  present  conditions  in  the 
time  given. 

Vocational  training,  again,  must  be  judged  according 
to  its  proper  relation  to  children.  It  may  be  said  that  in 
all  probability  no  child  before  the  age  of  fourteen  is 
qualified  physically  and  mentally  to  take  on  the  tech- 
nical skill  required  by  adults  in  a  vocation.  His  physi- 
cal abilities  are  not  equal  to  that  kind  of  skill  without  a 
forcing  of  the  process  upon  those  who  are  immature. 
The  beginnings  of  vocational  training  in  skilled  trades 
in  all  nations  are  not  usually  made  before  the  age  of 
fifteen  or  sixteen. 

A  study  of  the  children's  physical  limitations  and 
undeveloped  physical  powers  will  help  to  settle  this 
question  right.  Until  the  children  are  mature  enough 
to  take  on  this  high  degree  of  technical  skill  required 
in  the  trades,  we  can  afford  to  let  special  vocational 


274    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

training  alone.  Two  good  reasons,  therefore,  can  be 
assigned  for  not  introducing  vocational  training  below 
the  high  school:  first,  children  are  too  immature  in 
their  physical  and  mental  powers;  second,  this  period, 
for  the  welfare  both  of  the  child  and  of  society,  should 
be  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  general  education,  pre- 
liminary to  specialization  in  trades.  It  is  now  generally 
conceded  that  the  high-school  period  from  fourteen 
to  eighteen,  and  even  till  twenty,  is  the  appropriate 
time  for  mastering  skilled  vocations.  The  training 
for  the  higher  professions  in  the  universities  comes 
later  still.  Our  whole  school  system  needs  greatly  to  be 
strengthened  at  this  high-school  period.  Trade  schools, 
commercial  departments  in  high  schools,  and  continu- 
ation schools  should  be  made  numerous  and  strong  in 
all  our  communities  to  meet  this  need.  The  present 
agitation  in  favor  of  vocational  schools  for  young  peo- 
ple between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty,  is  entirely 
justified. 

It  may  also  be  said  that  manual  training  or  indus- 
trial arts  in  intermediate  and  grammar  grades  should 
give  introductory  courses  in  woodwork,  textiles,  print- 
ing and  bookbinding,  and  clay-modeling,  which  will 
furnish  the  children  with  suitable  exercises  in  working 
with  tools  and  materials.  These  school  arts  will  culti- 
vate the  constructive  powers  and  aptitudes  in  children 
without  overstrain,  and  gradually  develop  them  from 
crude  and  imperfect  efforts  to  some  degree  of  skill  in 
designing  and  making  a  considerable  variety  of  objects. 
The  training  and  skill  thus  acquired  will  be  profitable 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION       275 

as  a  preparation  for  skilled  trades  when  the  time  comes, 
and  will  also  give  all  children  an  exercise  and  aptitude 
for  working  in  various  materials  that  will  be  useful  to 
every  person  in  the  future. 

There  seems,  therefore,  to  be  a  reasonable  and  prac- 
tical solution  of  this  conflict  between  general  and  voca- 
tional training.  Both  are  important,  and  the  transition 
from  general  education  to  vocation  must  be  adjusted  to 
the  powers  of  children  and  to  the  needs  of  society  in 
its  permanent  interests.  It  is  an  adjustment,  however, 
which  takes  place  mainly  in  the  high-school  period. 
The  industrial  arts  in  the  elementary  and  grammar 
schools  are  primarily  an  essential  part  of  that  general 
training  which  fits  for  citizenship  and  only  incidentally 
a  preliminary  to  the  training  for  vocational  employ- 
ments. 

Teachers  must  take  a  broad,  longitudinal  survey  of 
the  whole  course  of  school  training  to  get  a  full  per- 
spective of  this  problem.  What  seems  to  many  prac- 
tical people  a  discord  between  vocational  studies  (those 
preparing  directly  for  a  calling)  and  our  present  com- 
mon-school course  is  at  bottom  no  discord  at  all.  The 
better  trained  children  are  in  arithmetic,  history,  and 
reading  the  quicker  they  will  master  their  later  voca- 
tional studies,  and  the  larger  their  opportunity  through- 
out life. 

The  present  movement  toward  vocational  training 
is  more  than  justified  by  the  fact  that  thousands  of 
young  persons  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty 
are  not  now  provided  with  school  opportunities  for 


276    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THEORIES 

learning  a  trade  or  any  kind  of  specialized  skill  in  a  life- 
calling.  Many  young  people  in  their  teens  are  idle  a 
good  share  of  the  time,  or  they  shift  about  from  one 
thing  to  another  without  becoming  expert  and  reliable 
in  any  one  pursuit.  At  the  age  of  twenty  they  are  not 
much  better  qualified  for  a  lifework  than  they  were  at 
fifteen,  and  in  addition  they  may  have  fallen  into  bad 
habits. 

Our  high  schools  supply  extended  secondary  train- 
ing, including  commercial  and  domestic-science 
courses,  but  these  fail  to  meet  the  needs  of  large  num- 
bers of  young  people  who  must  be  earning  a  living  and 
at  the  same  time  are  preparing  for  a  permanent  liveli- 
hood. We  are  in  great  need  of  a  well-organized,  fully 
equipped  system  of  secondary  schools  for  boys  and 
girls  between  fourteen  and  twenty  that  will  train  these 
young  people  into  efficiency  and  skill  in  a  great  variety 
of  common  callings;  not  merely  in  the  long  established 
trades,  such  as  tailoring,  bricklaying,  etc.,  but  in 
butchering,  in  baking,  in  barbering,  in  shopkeeping,  in 
laundering,  in  gardening,  and  in  a  hundred  other  call- 
ings. 

Our  industrial  society  has  reached  the  point  where  it 
feels  sharply  the  need  for  trained  and  skillful  workmen 
in  all  these  common  pursuits.  Otherwise  there  is  enor- 
mous waste  in  every  line  of  service  and  production. 
The  young  people,  also,  for  their  own  success  and  hap- 
piness in  life,  should  become  expert  workmen  or  pro- 
ducers in  some  permanent  calling  by  the  time  they  are 
twenty  years  of  age.  Upon  the  vocational  schools  must 


DUAL  PRINCIPLES  IN  EDUCATION       277 

rest  the  responsibility  for  this  training  in  a  great  vari- 
ety of  callings. 

Even  in  vocational  schools  it  has  been  customary  to 
carry  along  some  lines  of  general-culture  study  parallel 
with  vocational  work,  such  as  English,  history,  eco- 
nomics, composition,  and  arithmetic.  Our  high  schools 
furnish  some  courses  which  are  largely  industrial  and 
vocational  and  at  the  same  time  other  courses  which 
are  academic  and  broadly  cultural.  All  along  the  line, 
from  the  end  of  the  grammar  course  on,  students  are 
found  passing  over  from  general-culture  courses  into 
special  or  vocational  courses.  There  is,  therefore,  no 
exact  line  of  separation,  at  present,  between  general 
and  vocational  courses  of  study.  There  is,  however,  no 
basal  conflict  between  cultural  and  vocational  studies. 
Every  child  should  have  a  full  share  of  each,  as  much  as 
his  circumstances  and  abilities  will  permit. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CONCLUSIONS 

In  the  discussions  of  the  preceding  chapters  we  have 
found  dualisms  which  tend  to  grow  into  practical  con- 
tradictions in  the  chief  phases  of  educational  effort. 
The  basis  for  these  contradictions  lies  in  human  na- 
ture; that  is,  in  the  conflicting  forces  found  in  child  and 
adult,  and  in  society  as  organized.  The  necessary  sub- 
jects of  study  themselves  show  also  the  elements  out  of 
which  conflicts  spring. 

In  nearly  every  one  of  these  problems  we  have  ob- 
served a  marked  tendency  of  teachers  to  fall  into  dis- 
pute and  controversy  and  to  break  up  into  opposing 
parties.  This  tendency  toward  partisanship  and  con- 
flict is  also  a  marked  feature  of  educational  history 
extending  through  centuries.  Men  have  wrangled  over 
these  dualisms  throughout  long  periods,  and  the  per- 
sistence with  which  these  controversies  have  been  car- 
ried on  is  proof  of  their  fundamental  difficulty  and  real 
dual  character. 

The  discussion  of  the  conflicts  or  oppositions  given 
in  the  preceding  chapters  seems  to  indicate  that,  in 
nearly  every  case,  there  is  no  cause  for  lasting  contro- 
versy or  contradiction.  At  least,  there  is  no  irreconcil- 
able conflict.  The  principles  involved  in  each  case  are 
complementary,  not  antagonistic.  A  more  complete 
and   fair-minded   study  of   each   problem,  on  both 


CONCLUSIONS  279 

sides,  reveals  a  larger  unity  which  incorporates  both 
views. 

If  our  interpretation  of  these  problems  is  approxi- 
mately true,  it  throws  much  light  upon  the  teacher's 
perplexities  and  shows  a  method  for  solving  them.  The 
most  difficult  problems  of  instruction  and  of  school 
management  seem  to  center  in  these  dualisms.  If  we 
can  find  a  way  to  interpret  them  wisely  and  to  recon- 
cile them,  we  shall  get  the  teacher  started  right  and 
save  him  endless  waste  and  conflict. 

The  attitude  of  the  teacher  toward  these  dualistic 
problems  will  show  his  narrowness  or  his  breadth  and 
balance,  and  determine  his  qualification  for  educational 
responsibility.  On  this  basis  the  qualities  of  a  superior 
teacher  may  be  stated  as  follows :  — 

1.  Large-mindedness  in  comprehending  adequately 
both  sides  of  a  dual  problem.  This  is  more  than  mere 
tolerance,  more  than  a  mere  spirit  of  compromise.  It 
implies  industrious  and  patient  study,  the  clear,  intelli- 
gent survey  of  an  entire  situation  on  both  sides  as  to  its 
facts  and  principles. 

2.  Judicial-mindedness  in  measuring  values  and  in 
finding  the  proper  balance  and  harmony  between  op- 
posing tendencies.  Patience  and  suspended  judgment 
are  often  needed  in  measuring  up  and  balancing  ac- 
counts in  a  complex  situation. 

3.  Open-mindedness  and  lack  of  prejudice,  where 
one  is  naturally  inclined  to  take  sides  in  a  controversy, 
also  self-restraint  and  self-control  are  required. 

4.  In  the  schoolroom  where  principles  are  put  in 


280    EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  AND  THECRDZS 

practice,  the  teacher  must  show  marked  versatility 
and  quickness  in  shifting  from  one  point  of  view  to  the 
other,  in  springing  back  and  forth  between  extremes. 
This  rapid  movement  of  the  mind  back  and  forth  is 
often  the  means  of  adjustment  and  harmony  between 
opposites.  This  flexibility  of  temper  is  a  quality  not 
easily  attained,  because  it  is  more  easy  and  natural  to 
dwell  in  one  sphere  of  thought  or  feeling  and  to  neglect 
or  ignore  its  complementary  mental  state.  Diplomatic 
shiftiness  may  express  this  quality  in  a  practical  way. 
We  may  sum  the  matter  up  in  this  way :  The  marked 
traits  of  the  teacher  should  be  breadth  and  variety  of 
usable  experience,  an  open  and  receptive  mind  for  all 
phases  of  human  thought  and  feeling,  and  an  interest 
in  all  kinds  of  knowledge.  The  teacher  in  the  common 
school  specializes  in  universal  qualities,  and  not  in  any 
particular  kind  of  knowledge.  The  dualisms  which  we 
have  discussed  lie  in  the  field  of  human  experience 
common  to  all.  They  express  universal  tendencies  in 
human  nature  and  in  society.  The  common  school  is 
expected  to  give  the  training  which  fits  for  this  com- 
mon life  of  all.  In  adjusting  himself  to  his  surroundings 
in  home  and  society,  in  work  and  play,  the  child  will 
meet  all  these  contradictions.  They  are  a  part  of  the 
social  order  in  which  he  lives.  The  teacher,  who  should 
be  sufficiently  broad-minded  and  diplomatic  to  har- 
monize these  opposing  tendencies  in  education,  would 
be  the  greatest  peacemaker  in  the  world.  The  peace- 
maker is  the  one  who  prevents  needless  conflict,  who 
encourages  the  spirit  of  friendliness,  and  brings  people 


CONCLUSIONS  281 

to  the  superior  standpoint,  where  they  can  appreciate 
the  larger  union  and  harmony  of  rival  or  conflicting 
forces.  If  the  teacher,  by  his  greater  breadth  and  tact, 
can  get  the  stronger  and  better  forces  of  society  to  work 
together,  he  can  present  a  much  bolder  front  to  the 
evils  in  society. 

The  above-mentioned  qualities  in  the  teacher  may 
not  be  easy  of  attainment.  There  is,  however,  oppor- 
tunity for  their  exercise  every  day  and  hour  in  school- 
rooms. They  represent  the  higher  phase  of  those  uni- 
versal necessities  for  which  the  school  stands. 

The  dualisms  which  we  have  described  and  for  which 
we  have  attempted  to  suggest  a  solution  are  found  to 
underlie  our  basal  problems  in  school  government,  in 
all  phases  of  class  instruction,  in  the  general  theories  of 
psychology  and  pedagogy,  in  the  subject-matter  of 
school  studies,  in  child  nature  itself,  and  in  the  social 
and  political  organization  of  society.  The  history  of 
education  is  a  series  of  object  lessons  in  the  controver- 
sies which  have  sprung  out  of  these  dualisms. 

A  science  of  education  should  balance  up  and  com- 
bine these  opposing  tendencies,  removing  all  unneces- 
sary causes  of  friction,  and  should  make  plain  to 
teachers  the  points  where  they  ought  to  broaden  and 
deepen  their  knowledge  of  principles,  so  as  to  grasp  the 
larger  unity  of  educational  doctrine. 


INDEX 


Abstract,  the,  and  the  concrete, 
closely  linked,  162,  163,  167; 
textbooks,  etc.,  have  generally 
begun  with,  164;  and  the  con- 
crete, the  proper  combination 
of,  170-74;  examples  of  a  prop- 
er balance  between,  176-84. 

Abstract,  treatment  of  top;c,  and 
concrete,  illustrated,  168-70; 
modes  of  teaching,  illustrations 
of,  174,  175. 

Alexander  the  Great,  201. 

Algebra,  75,  76,  163,  268. 

Antithetical  elements  in  school 
studies,  213-22. 

Aristotle,  165,  201. 

Arithmetic,  two  opposing  meth- 
ods of  presenting,  4;  develop- 
ment of  topics  in,  64;  con- 
structive thought  required  in 
problems  of,  75,  76;  in  part,  is 
dictation,  77;  continuity  in, 
114;  interesting  to  children,  if 
rightly  taught,  121;  reverenced 
as  hard  subject,  123;  important 
things  in,  147,  148;  things  of 
secondary  importance  in,  150; 
concrete  and  abstract  in,  166; 
formalism  in,  193;  cases  of  low 
standards  in  phraseology  of, 
194;  and  the  theorist,  242; 
every  child  needs,  272. 

Arnold,  Thomas,  28,  246. 

Artistic,  the,  and  the  practical, 
contrast  between,  218. 

Arts  and  crafts,  218,  274. 

Ascham,  Roger,  201. 

Authority,  23. 

Basedow,  J.  B.,  246. 
Batavia  plan,  the,  202. 
Biography,  44,  134,  135. 
Books  on  education,  246, 247, 250. 
Burgoyne's  Campaign,  topic,  dis- 
cussion of,  95-101. 


Chemistry,  76. 

Children,  require  freedom,  13; 
impulsive  and  unregulated,  18; 
reaction  of,  to  teacher,  27;  and 
teacher,  dualism  in  contact  be- 
tween, 28,  29;  conduct  of,  eas- 
ily misjudged,  31,  32 ;  natu- 
rally associate  themselves  into 
groups,  38;  need  guidance  and 
help,  103-05;  argument  that 
they  are  helped  too  much,  105 
-08;  permissible  and  effective 
ways  of  helping,  110-16;  wrong 
ways  of  helping,  116-20;  de- 
velop through  crude  effort  to- 
ward accuracy,  152;  up  to  age 
of  sixteen  should  have  wide  va- 
riety of  experiences  of  motor 
type,  154;  standards  in  moral 
education  of,  155,  156;  should 
not  be  prematurely  hurried  in- 
to skilled  arts,  158;  examples 
of  crudeness  and  of  gradually 
developing  skill  in,  159,  160; 
contrasts  in,  and  in  society, 
223-36;  vary  widely  in  individ- 
ual ability,  232. 

Child-study,  33,  262-64. 

Class  and  individual  instruction, 
the  advantages  of  each,  196- 
205;  in  German  schools,  200, 
208;  devices  to  harmonize,  205 
-08;  summary  of  discussion  on, 
209. 

Classical  course,  261,  263. 

Comenius,  J.  A.,  246,  250. 

Comparisons,  desirable  in  treat- 
ment of  large  topics,  57-60. 

Composition,  113. 

Concepts  and  percepts,  162,  163. 

Concrete,  the,  and  the  abstract, 
closely  linked,  162,  163,  167; 
demand  for,  in  teaching,  165; 
can  be  overdone,  166;  and  the 
abstract,  the  proper  combina- 


284 


INDEX 


tion  of,  170-74;  examples  of 
excessive  emphasis  upon,  175, 
176;  and  the  abstract,  examples 
of  a  proper  balance  between, 
176-84. 

Concrete,  treatment  of  topic,  and 
abstract,  illustrated,  168-70. 

Conduct,  155. 

Conservatives  and  progressives, 
261-67. 

Content  and  form,  184-95. 

Contradictions,  in  family  and 
home  education,  Richter  quot- 
ed on,  3;  in  practical  education, 
examples  of,  4,  5;  in  moral  ed- 
ucation, 5;  in  vocational  train- 
ing, 5;  in  various  features  of 
education,  5,  6;  in  views  of 
writers  on  education,  6;  funda- 
mental principles  of  education 
obscured  by,  7.  See  Dualisms. 

Contrasts  in  child  and  in  society, 
223-36;  the  child  physical  and 
mental,  223-28;  heredity  and 
environment,  228-31 ;  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  social  whole, 
231-36.  See  Contradictions, 
Dualisms. 

Controversy,  as  regards  methods 
of  teaching  and  matters  of 
school  discipline,  3-6;  obscures 
principles  of  pedagogical  sci- 
ence, 6,  7;  demoralizing  to 
teachers,  7;  valuable  results  to 
be  expected  from,  8,  9;  recon- 
ciliation in,  to  be  attempted,  9, 
10;  a  few  points  of,  10,  11. 

Cooperation,  232,  233. 

Criticism  in  school  work,  25-27. 

Cross  lines  in  thinking,  48-52; 
necessary  to  sound  thinking, 
55,  60. 

Crudeness,  and  perfection,  in 
work,  151;  examples  of,  in  chil- 
dren, 159,  160. 

Debate,  196,  197. 

Decisiveness  in  school  manage- 
ment, 20-23. 

Details,  unimportant,  not  to  be 
dwelt  upon,  140-43. 


Dictation,  75-101 ;  the  arguments 
for,  80,  81;  the  arguments 
against,  81,  82;  discussion  of 
Burgoyne's  campaign,  95-101. 

Dignity  in  the  teacher,  23-25. 

Discipline,  of  will,  122-26,  128; 
of  life,  126.  See  School  man- 
agement. 

Discussions,  197. 

Dramatization,  175,  197. 

Drawing,  149,  161,  218. 

Drills,  143,  166,  175,  187,  190- 
98,207. 

Dualisms,  in  management  of 
children  in  school,  12;  obedi- 
ence and  freedom,  12-20;  de- 
cisiveness and  gentleness,  20- 
23;  reserve  and  spontaneity, 
23-25;  criticism  and  encour- 
agement, 25-27;  arising  from 
contact  between  teacher  and 
children,  28-36;  the  individual 
and  the  social  whole,  36-39, 
231-36;  the  teacher  as  law- 
maker, judge,  and  executive 
officer,  39-41;  between  main 
line  of  thought  and  cross  lines, 
48,  54,  60;  dictation  and  inde- 
pendent thought,  75-101;  help 
and  self-help,  102-20;  interest 
and  effort,  120-30;  thorough- 
ness and  artificiality,  138-50; 
perfection  and  crudeness,  151- 
61;  concrete  and  abstract,  162- 
84;  form  and  content,  184-95; 
class  and  individual  instruc- 
tion, 196-210;  in  school  stud- 
ies, 213-22;  physical  and  men- 
tal child,  223-28;  heredity  and 
environment,  228-31 ;  theory 
and  practice,  237-51;  scholar- 
ship and  science  of  education, 
252-60;  conservatives  and  pro- 
gressives, 261-67;  secular  and 
moral  education,  267-71;  gen- 
eral training  and  vocation,  271 
-77;  are  not  irreconcilable,  278. 
See  Contradictions. 

Education,  family  and  home, 
contradictions      in,      Richter 


INDEX 


285 


quoted  on,  3;  practical,  ex- 
amples of  contradictions  in,  4, 
5;  variety  of  views  among 
writers  on,  6;  science  of,  ob- 
scured by  controversies,  7;  fun- 
damental issues  in,  look  in  op- 
posite directions,  9;  denned  as 
all-round  development  of  the 
individual,  231,  232;  empha- 
sized as  social  adjustment,  232, 
233;  should  combine  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  social  points  of 
view,  233-36;  theories  rife  in, 
238^3;  American,  not  suffi- 
ciently practical,  248-50;  leader 
in,  qualifications  of,  248;  real 
leaders  in,  needed,  250;  science 
of,  and  scholarship,  contro- 
versy as  to,  252-60;  opposition 
between  conservatives  and 
progressives  in,  261-67;  secular 
versus  moral,  267-71. 

Educational  writers,  abstractness 
of,  175. 

Effort,  and  interest,  120-30;  illus- 
trations showing  the  need  of 
strenuous  and  painful,  131-33. 

Elective  system,  6,  203,  262. 

Elizabeth,  Princess,  201. 

Emulation,  196,  198. 

Encouragement,  and  criticism,  to 
be  combined,  25-27;  value  of, 
112. 

Energy  of  will  of  teacher,  30,  31. 

English,  correct,  188,  190,  194, 
195. 

Environment  and  heredity,  228- 
31. 

Erasmus,  250. 

Erie  Canal,  topic,  treatment  of, 
66-74. 

Excellence,  standards  of,  138-61. 

Fairy  and  hero  tales,  120,  121, 

133,  134,  213. 
Feelings,  the,  124,  125. 
Feltre,  Vittorino  da,  as  a  teacher, 

46. 
Fenelon,  Frangois,  as  a  teacher, 

44,  45,  201. 
Form  and  content,  184-95;  cases 


of  marked  tendency  toward 
formalism,  193,  194. 

Freedom,  and  obedience,  in 
school  management,  12-20;  of 
thought,  in  school  manage- 
ment, 78. 

Fricke,  Dr.  Otto,  249. 

Froebel,  F.  W.  A.,  250. 

Games,  school,  197. 

Garfield,  J.  A.,  28. 

General  and  vocational  training, 
271-77. 

General  notions,  and  particular, 
162;  at  basis  of  topics,  should 
be  brought  out,  170,  171. 

Generalization,  167. 

Gentleness  in  school  manage- 
ment, 20-23. 

Geography,  methods  of  teaching, 
5;  development  of  topics  in,  63; 
problem-setting  in,  83,  90; 
continuity  in,  114;  many  top- 
ics in,  interesting  to  children, 
121;  given  in  interesting  way, 
135;  important  things  in,  148; 
things  of  secondary  impor- 
tance in,  149, 150;  formalism  in, 
193;  standards  in,  194;  physi- 
cal, 262;  chiefly  informational, 
268;  every  child  needs,  272. 

Geometry,  268. 

George  Junior  Republic,  the,  14. 

German  schools,  social  principle 
emphasized  in,  200;  system  in 
Mannheim  of  division  of  chil- 
dren into  classes,  208;  teachers 
in,  have  faith  in  scientific 
method,  249. 

Government,  a  ticklish  experi- 
ment, 17;  main  purpose  of,  23. 

Governments,  practice  of  free- 
dom under  law,  a  need  of,  19, 
20. 

Grammar,  development  of  top- 
ics in,  63;  is,  in  part,  dictation, 
77;  discussion  of,  as  a  study,  in 
school,  115;  interesting  to  chil- 
dren, if  rightly  taught,  121; 
reverenced  as  hard  subject, 
123;  important  things  in,  148; 


286 


INDEX 


things  of  secondary  importance 

in,  150;  an  abstract  study,  163. 

Groups,  social,  in  school,  37,  38. 

Help  and  self-help,  102-10;  per- 
missible and  effective  ways  of 
helping  children,  110-16;  wrong 
ways  of  helping  children,  116- 
20. 

Herbart,  J.  F.,  6,  121,  201,  246, 
250. 

Herbartian  movement,  the,  262. 

Heredity  and  environment,  228- 
31. 

Hero  and  fairy  tales,  120,  121, 

133,  134,  213. 

Heroic  qualities  in  teacher,  28. 

High-school  period,  vocational 
training  in,  274-76. 

History,  contrasts  in  methods  of 
teaching,  4,  5;  development  of 
topics  in,  63;  is,  in  part,  dicta- 
tion, 77;  problem-setting  in, 
83,  90;  continuity  in,  114; 
many  topics  in,  interesting  to 
children,  121;  American,  now 
given  in  vigorous  narratives, 

134,  135;  important  things  in, 
147, 148,  150;  things  of  second- 
ary importance  in,  149,  150; 
curriculum  enriched  by,  189; 
formalism  in,  193;  standards 
in,  194;  few  important  topics 
in,  well  organized,  242;  course 
of  study  in,  planned  by  Com- 
mittee of  Eight  in  History, 
243;  chiefly  informational,  268; 
every  child  needs,  272. 

Home,  the,  19,  23,  32,  33. 
Humorous,  the,  and  the  serious, 
220-22. 

Idealistic,  the,  and  the  useful, 
213-20. 

Illustrations,  concrete,  use  of, 
111 ;  showing  the  need  of  stren- 
uous and  painful  effort,  131- 
33;  of  things  to  be  thoroughly 
understood  and  mastered,  147- 
49;  of  knowledge  which  is  of 
secondary  or  transient  value, 


149,  150;  of  crudeness  and  of 
gradually  developing  skill  in 
children,  159,  160;  of  too  ab- 
stract modes  of  teaching,  174, 
175;  of  excessive  emphasis  up- 
on the  concrete,  175,  176;  of  a 
proper  balance  between  con- 
crete and  abstract  modes  of 
thought,  176-84;  of  marked 
tendencies  toward  formalism, 
193,  194;  of  over-emphasis  on 
content,  194,  195. 

Impulsiveness,  24. 

Independent  thought,  and  dicta- 
tion, 75-101;  to  be  fostered 
from  beginning  of  school  life, 
78;  a  difficult  problem,  92;  ob- 
jections that  may  be  urged 
against,  94;  birthright  of  Amer- 
ican children,  95;  discussion  of 
Burgoyne's  campaign,  95-101. 

Individual,  the,  and  the  social 
whole,  36-39,  231-36. 

Individual  and  class  instruction, 
196-209;  the  advantages  of 
each,  196-205;  devices  to  har- 
monize, 205-08. 

Indulgence,  a  fault  in  school 
management,  21,  22. 

Industrial  arts,  63,  88,  135,  136, 
163,  189,  218,  274. 

Inhibition,  power  of,  133. 

Initiative,  131. 

Instruction,  48-74;  good,  holds 
to  central  line  of  argument,  53; 
class  and  individual,  196-209. 

Interest,  and  effort,  120-30;  posi- 
tive proofs  of  the  value  of,  in 
studies,  133-37. 

Jackson,  Stonewall,  28. 
James,  William,  6;  an  advocate 
of  the  doctrine  of  effort,  124. 

Kerschensteiner,  George,  93. 

Laboratory  methods,  88,  89. 

Language,  development  of  top- 
ics in,  63;  is  a  dictation,  77;  in- 
teresting to  children,  if  rightly 
taught,  121. 


INDEX 


287 


Languages,  foreign,  268;  impor- 
tant things  in,  148. 

Latin,  113;  formalism  in  teach- 
ing of,  188,  193. 

Lecture  method,  87,  88. 

Lecturers,  public,  176. 

Literary  studies,  and  natural  sci- 
ences, conflict  between,  216, 
217. 

Literature,  development  of  top- 
ics in,  63;  of  historic  peoples, 
136;  things  of  secondary  im- 
portance in,  150;  and  drama- 
tization, 175;  every  child  needs, 
272. 

Locke,  John,  201,  250. 

Logical  continuity  in  thinking, 
48-74. 

Lyon,  Mary,  28. 

Mann,  Horace,  28,  47,  246. 

Mannheim,  Germany,  school 
system  in  vogue  in,  208. 

Manual  arts,  6,  76,  89,  148,  218, 
244. 

Manual  training,  262,  274. 

Many-sidedness,  needed  in  teach- 
er, 29. 

Map-drawing,  113,  151. 

Map  study,  things  of  secondary 
importance  in,  149. 

Mathematics,  every  child  needs, 
272.     See  Arithmetic,  etc. 

Meese,  John,  35. 

Mental  and  physical  contrast  in 
children,  223-28. 

Mind,  must  take  in  wide  range  of 
objects,  49;  concentration  of, 
on  main  steps  in  argument,  53. 

Moral  education,  basis  of,  in  dis- 
pute, 5;  standards  in,  155,  156; 
danger  of  setting  too  high 
standards  in,  161;  versus  secu- 
lar, 267-71. 

Motor  activities,  have  developed 
in  importance,  151;  wide  range 
of,  up  to  sixteen  years  of  age, 
154;  dangers  of  setting  too  high 
standards  for,  160,  161. 

Music,  136,  160,  161,  189,  197, 
272. 


Narrow-mindedness  in  the  teach- 
er, 33,  34. 

Nature-study,  interesting  to  chil- 
dren, 120,  121,  135;  important 
things  in,  147;  sensory  training 
in,  163;  has  not  produced  the 
results  anticipated,  166,  262; 
curriculum  enriched  by,  189; 
one-time  enthusiastic  zeal  for, 
238;  union  of  theoretical  and 
practical  knowledge  needed  in, 
244. 

New  York  Harbor,  discussion  of, 
55-58. 

Normal  schools,  255. 

Novels,  44. 

Obedience,  and  freedom,  opposi- 
tion of,  in  school  management, 
12-20,  78. 

Oral  instruction,  195;  distin- 
guishes German  schools,  200. 

Oral-and-development  method, 
89. 

Organization,  of  subjects  for 
classroom  study,  53,  54,  64, 
65;  of  concrete  data  to  bring 
out  general  concept,  171-73. 

Outlines,  194,  195,  245. 

Over-thoroughness  and  superfi- 
ciality, 138-50,  159. 

Parker,  Francis,  246. 

Particular  and  general  notions, 
162. 

Pedagogy.     See  Education. 

Penalties,  natural,  119. 

Penetration,  needed  by  teacher, 
29,  32. 

Penn,  William,  topic,  illustrated, 
145,  146. 

Percepts  and  concepts,  162,  163. 

Perfection  and  crudeness  in 
work,  151-61. 

Personality,  28,  30,  34. 

Pestalozzi,  J.  H.,  22,  33,  44,  246. 

Physical  and  mental,  the,  con- 
trast of,  223-28. 

Physical  education,  standards  in, 
136,  154,  155. 

Physics,  76. 


288 


INDEX 


Picture  shows,  176. 

Plato,  246,  250. 

Playgrounds,  18. 

Poems,  147,  148. 

Practical,  the,  and  the  artistic, 
contrast  between,  218. 

Practice  and  theory,  the  gulf  be- 
tween, 237-51. 

Problem-setting  idea,  90-92. 

Progressives  and  conservatives, 
261-67. 

Psychology,  113. 

Questions,  of  children  in  school, 

115,  207;  of  teacher,  117. 
Quintilian,  250. 

Reaction,  of  the  children  to  the 
teacher,  27;  of  grown-ups  to 
conduct  of  children,  32. 

Readers,  174. 

Reading,  contradictory  views  as 
to  methods  for  beginners  in,  4; 
development  of  topics  in,  63; 
methods  of  learning,  193. 

Reading-lessons,  197. 

Realm  of  controversy,  3-11. 

Receptivity  of  teacher,  30,  31. 

Reforms  in  education,  262-65. 

Reserve  in  the  teacher,  23-25. 

Richter,  J.  P.,  3. 

Rousseau,  J.  J.,  6,  201,  246,  250. 

Rules,  15,  20. 

Scholarship  and  science  of  edu- 
cation, controversy  as  to,  252- 
60. 

School  management,  12-47. 

Schoolmaster.     See  Teacher. 

Schools,  vocational  training  in, 
156-58. 

Science,  development  of  topics  in, 
63;  problem-setting  in,  83,90;  a 
study  of  interest,  135;  impor- 
tant things  in,  147, 148;  curric- 
ulum enriched  by,  189;  stand- 
ards in,  194;  and  literary  study, 
conflict  between,  216,  217; 
one-time  enthusiastic  zeal  for, 
238;  as  study,  not  so  successful 
as  anticipated,  262;  chiefly  in- 


formational, 268;  every  child 
needs,  272. 

Science  of  education,  and  schol- 
arship, controversy  as  to,  252- 
60. 

Secular  versus  moral  education, 
267-71. 

Self-activity,  131. 

Self-control,  to  be  developed  in 
school,  12-20. 

Self-help  and  help,  102-10. 

Sequence  in  thinking  imperative, 
52,  53. 

Serious,  the,  and  the  humorous, 
220-22. 

Shop-work,  121,  151,  218. 

Skill,  based  on  habit,  153;  in 
children's  motor  activities, 
154,  155 ;  in  trade,  acquired 
between  ages  of  sixteen  and 
twenty,  158,  273,  274;  gradu- 
ally developing,  examples  of, 
159,  160. 

Social,  groups  in  schools,  36-39; 
principle  in  school  work,  196- 
209;  science,  198,  199;  whole, 
the,  and  the  individual,  two  as- 
pects in  education,  231-36. 

Society  and  child,  contrasts  in, 
223-36. 

Socrates,  104. 

Specialists,  as  teachers  in  high 
schools,  215. 

Specialization,  204 ;  in  vocational 
training,  157,  158,  203. 

Spelling,  151,  193. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  218,  246. 

Spontaneity  in  the  teacher,  23- 
25. 

Standards,  of  excellence,  138- 
61;  business  of  school  to  set, 
151;  for  children's  motor  ac- 
complishments in  school,  con- 
stantly changing,  153,  158, 
159;  strong,  for  motor  activi- 
ties of  young  people,  155;  for 
motor  activities,  dangers  of 
setting  them  too  high,  160, 
161;  cases  of  low,  194,  195. 

Steamboating,  topic,  develop- 
ment of,  178-84. 


INDEX 


289 


Story-books,  176. 

Story-telling  in  primary  grades, 
83,  120,  121,  133. 

Strong  teacher,  the,  27,  28,  33, 
34,  41-43. 

Stubbornness,  a  fault  in  school 
management,  22. 

Studies,  the  idealistic  and  the 
useful,  213-20;  the  serious  and 
the  humorous,  220-22. 

Superficiality  and  over-thorough- 
ness, 138-50,  159. 

Sympathy,  needed  by  teacher, 
29,  30,  32-34,  38,  39,  41,  42. 

Teacher,  how  he  is  to  bring  about 
obedience  and  freedom  in 
school,  15-20;  should  be  deci- 
sive and  gentle,  20-23;  should 
combine  reserve  and  spontane- 
ity, 23-25;  should  combine 
criticism  and  encouragement, 
25-27;  the  strong,  27,  28;  and 
children,  dualism  between,  28, 
29;  needs  penetration  and 
sympathy,  29;  a  receiver  of  in- 
fluences, 30;  must  combine  en- 
ergy of  will  and  sympathetic 
receptivity,  30,  31;  sometimes 
misjudges  children's  conduct, 
31,  32;, should  combine  rigor- 
ous treatment  with  kindliness, 
32;  should  make  a  business  of 
sensible  child-study,  33;  much 
injury  can  be  done  by,  if  he  is 
strong  but  narrow-minded,  33, 
34 ;  first  duty  of,  to  expand  and 
enlarge  his  personality,  34; 
does  not  aim  at  profound  schol- 
arship, 34;  the  qualifications  of 
the  best,  35,  36;  the  right- 
minded,  is  a  discoverer,  36; 
must  adjust  opposition  be- 
tween the  individual  and  the 
social  whole,  36-39;  is  law- 
maker, judge,  and  executive 
officer,  39;  his  needs  in  the 
three  capacities,  40;  summary 
of  argument  regarding  atti- 
tude toward  school  manage- 
ment, 41-43;  examples  of,  43- 


47;  has  not  developed  much 
power  of  organization,  53,  54; 
should  be  trained  in  profes- 
sional school,  65 ;  tphould  have 
copious  and  well-organized 
body  of  usable  knowledge,  65; 
to  harmonize  tendencies  of 
dictation  and  independent 
thought,  80,  93;  his  use  of  text- 
books, 86,  87;  one  who  is  orig- 
inal needed  to  awaken  orig- 
inality, 89;  requirements  of,  for 
oral  instruction,  89;  naturally 
becomes  dictatorial  in  teach- 
ing, 93,  94;  should  be  liberal 
with  conservative  bias,  95; 
should  encourage  pupils  by 
throwing  light  on  difficulties, 
103;"  a  helper,  103,  10#;  must 
reconcile"  help  and  self-help, 
108-10;  permissible  ways  in 
which  he  may  help  children, 
110-16;  ways  in  which  he 
wrongly  helps  children,  116- 
20;  should  interest  children  in 
solution  of  important  prob- 
lems, 129;  should  discriminate 
between  main  facts  and  collat- 
eral facts,  144;  and  standards 
of  perfection,  151-55;  is  an  ad- 
juster, 154;  in  upper  grades, 
too  much  inclined  to  be  ab- 
stract, 164;  should  carry  topics 
through  concrete  line  of  experi- 
ence, 165;  should  move  back 
and  forth  between  concrete 
and  abstract,  167;  reasons 
why  he  has  not  been  able  to 
solve  proper  combination  of 
abstract  and  concrete,  173;  his 
business,  first  of  all,  to  arouse 
thought,  189;  must  combine 
in  due  proportions  form  and 
thought,  192;  must  unify  per- 
sonal elements  in  class,  198; 
should  be  all-round  social  crea- 
ture, 199,  215;  must  shift  be- 
tween class  and  individual  ef- 
fort, 205;  extra,  207;  way  in 
which  he  may  prepare  himself 
to  adjust  social  and  individual 


290 


INDEX 


needs  of  class,  209;  should 
unite  literary  and  scientific  in- 
terest, 217;  often  too  serious, 
220;  should  combine  serious 
and  humorous,  221,  222;  must 
study  physical,  as  well  as  men- 
tal, aspect  of  child,  227;  should 
judge  individual  capacity  and 
contradictory  traits,  230; 
should  harmonize  individual 
and  social  needs,  234,  235; 
much  in  need  of  rational  theory 
to  guide  practice,  243,  247; 
German,  has  more  faith  in  sci- 
entific method,  249;  supreme 
test  of,  teaching-skill  in  class- 
room, 249;  should  combine 
scholarship  and  knowledge  of 
pedagogy,  252^60;  attitude  of, 
toward  conservatives  and  pro- 
gressives, 265r67;  has  tend- 
ency towardpartisanship  and 
conflict,  278;  qualities  of  a  su- 
perior, 2iZa-81. 

Textbook  method  of  teaching, 
75,  77,  79-82,  84-87;  the  great 
merit  of,  87. 

Textbook  organization,  53. 

Textbooks,  criticisms  of,  85,  86, 
242;  graded  with  care,  105; 
train  children  in  abstract 
phraseology,  164,  173-75. 

Theme-writing,  76. 

Theory  and  practice,  the  gulf  be- 
tween, 237-51. 

Thinking,  logical  continuity  and 
cross  lines  in,  48-74;  compara- 
tive, 59;  half  the  time  in  school- 


work  should  be  spent  in,  61 ;  re- 
flective, 61,  63;  three  errors  in, 
62,  63;  independent,  75. 

Thoroughness,  138;  too  great, 
139-50. 

Thought  and  form,  184-95. 

Tool-work,  151. 

Topics,  method  of  development 
of,  48-64;  reasons  for  neglect 
of  this  method,  64;  treatment 
of  Erie  Canal  topic,  66-74. 

Tories,  the,  topic  illustrating  by 
treatment  the  concrete  and  the 
abstract,  168-70. 

Training,  general  and  vocational, 
271-77.  See  Vocational  train- 
ing- 
Tutorial  system,  201,  202. 

Useful,  the,  and  the  idealistic, 
213-20. 

Vocational  training,  diversity  of 
ideas  in  regard  to,  5;  demand 
for,  156,  238;  in  schools,  156- 
58;  is  a  demand  for  specializa- 
tion, 203;  is  a  new  movement, 
262,  264;  and  general  training, 
271-77. 

Will,  discipline  of,  122-26;  the 
strong  but  unbalanced,  128. 

Words,  uncommon,  should  not  be 
emphasized  to  the  neglect  of 
the  common,  139,  140,  150. 

Writing,  standard  in,  151;  danger 
of  setting  too  high  standards 
in,  161. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  b  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


SUBJEClt  TO  FINE  IF  NOT  REJ'RNED  T 

EDUCATION  LIBRARY 

APR  3     1961 

OCT   1  i  19M 
MAR  5     1966 
W/VR2  5 


1966 


..."   V^'' 


EOJPSYCH. 


.*oV 


I 


Form  L9-50m-9,*60(B361084)444 


p^t 


■JfiSlSF*** 


*-mm 


LIBRARY  Fi 


UCLA-ED/PSYCH  Library 

LB  1025  M22c 


i  iiiiii  n  mi  mil  ink  iil!iiliil!lll||||||||||||| 
L  005  618  818  8 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOt 

LOS  ANGELES,  CAUFORflUL 


